She-Ra and the Crystal Gems: Deadlock
by TheInkredibleKaptainKaiju
Summary: An ancient force of destruction had been unleashed upon the universe, and it's our heroes' job to save the day yet again. This time, they'll need to join forces with their enemies if they want to have any hope of surviving Skeletor's onslaught.
1. All Mapped Out

She-Ra and the Crystal Gems: Deadlock

Chapter One: All Mapped Out

* * *

In the quiet darkness of the dreary landscape, a single beacon of light ignited. This light, emerging from a small blue gemstone, soon took the shape of a female form. The light itself dimmed, leaving behind the form of Lapis Lazuli.

The blue Gem slowly opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. Memories of the preceding events flooded back to her: she was on the desolate planet known as Denebria, having been poofed after taking a beam from Keldor. Keldor, whom Steven had believed to be an ally, was truly a malicious third party with his own agenda. He had brought him his staff, only for him to try and destroy the whole lot of them.

"Lapis, are you alright?" She turned towards the voice, and was greeted by Peridot standing near her, wearing a look of concern.

"Y-yeah, I think so," Lapis replied. "My gem isn't cracked, is it?"

"No, thank the stars," said Peridot. "Still, I had no idea what Skeletor did to you. For all I knew, he could have sucked out all your energy with his weird necro-magic!"

"Well, I feel fine," Lapis assured her. "I-wait, I thought his name was Keldor."

"Oh, right," said Peridot. "Before he left, he apparently renamed himself. Something about 'silencing the universe' or some such nonsense. I didn't hear it for myself."

Lapis looked around once more. "Peridot? Where's everyone else?"

"Right over here," Peridot said, leading Lapis over a nearby hill. On the other side rested the rest of their travel-mates. Curiously, the agents of the Horde sat not far from the Princess Alliance and Crystal Gems. While not as surprising for Scorpia, Entrapta as well, Catra struck Lapis as the kind of person who wouldn't sit so close to her sworn enemies.

"Uh, Peridot?" asked Lapis. "How long have I been regenerating for?"

"Well, let's see here…" the small Gem pondered. "Given that the day/night cycle of this planet is near-identical to the Earth's, I'd say it's been about…"

"Six days."

Connie had walked over upon seeing that Lapis was awake again. She looked much more solemn than she usually did, and steadied herself on her sword as she walked.

"That long?" said Lapis. "How is everyone doing?"

"Not good," Connie reported. "This planet's completely dead. We went looking for food a few days ago, but there's nothing. Perfuma's out of magic to make plants we can eat, and Steven can't grow any from scratch."

"Hey, is that the water lady?" Glimmer approached as well. "Tell her about the water."

"What about the water?"

"Well, humans need water to live," Connie said. "Not sure if you knew that or not, but the point is, we could really use your help to get some. We've been living off the last dregs of the pocket Mermista found, and she's out of magic to find more."

"Yeah, I'll get you some water," Lapis said. "But are you sure there's no other way off the planet? What about the ship?"

"Busted," Bismuth called over. "Skeletor's little light show that he zapped you with smashed it up real good. There's not even enough pieces to put back together!"

"And he destroyed the warp pad," Peridot said. "Like it or not, and I have no idea why you would, we're stranded here."

Lapis was busy looking up at the stars. "You know, I could just fly you all out of here. It'd have to be one at a time, and Bismuth and that other lady might be a chore to lift, but I could get you out of here."

Connie raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, that might work for Gems, but humans don't exactly do well in the vacuum of space."

"Yeah," Glimmer said. "Besides, not to rush you or anything, but we could really use some wa-"

"Wait a minute!" cried Lapis. "Peridot, are there any colonies or stations near here?"

"Yeah, a few," Peridot replied. "Why?"

"That could be our way off this place!" Lapis said. "With you navigating, I can fly us to the nearest Gem territory, we swipe a ship, and fly everyone back to Earth!"

"That...might work, actually," Peridot said. "I mean, it isn't like anyone else has any better ideas, right?"

"Wh-you can't just fly to a Gem colony!" shouted Connie. "You two are wanted felons, remember?"

"Not necessarily," Peridot said. "There's hundreds of Lazulis and Peridots out there. Plus, Lapis hasn't done anything to draw the Diamonds' attention, unlike me. If I can acquire a new set of limb enhancers, we'll blend right in!"

Glimmer looked disappointed. "So...no water?"

Lapis shrugged. "There isn't any left on the planet, anyway. Not in big enough quantities for me to sense, at least."

"It's not ideal, but it's the best option we have," Connie said. "I guess that's how we usually operate, so why not?"

"Yes! We're finally getting off this rock!" Peridot said. "Come on, let's go tell the others the good news!"

While they walked back to the group, Pearl was busy pacing back and forth in front of Garnet and a very bored-looking Amethyst. "I mean, there has to be _something_ else we can do!" she said. "Why not try repairing the warp pad?"

"P, if it didn't work the first seven times, I doubt the eighth would be any different," said Amethyst.

"Oh, since when did you start caring about math!" Pearl huffed. "Garnet, there has to be a timeline where we escape, isn't there?"

"Yes," was all Garnet said.

Great!" said Pearl. "So, all we have to do is follow one of those, and we can all go home safe and sound!"

Garnet adjusted her glasses. "Pearl, there's a timeline where this planet spontaneously explodes for no identifiable reason, and every single one of us just so happens to drift home safe in Steven's bubble. Just because something _can_ happen doesn't mean it _will_."

"Okay everyone, let's all go inside Steven's bubble, just in case!" said Pearl.

"Everybody! I have a solution for getting us home!" shouted Peridot, drawing everyone's attention.

"Ooh, another one," Mermista said. "Does this one involve building a bridge to Earth out of dirt and rocks?"

"What, why would I use that a fourth time?" Peridot asked. "Anyway, Lapis and I are leaving!"

"Ah, so they're abandoning us," Catra said. "Can't say I expected any different."

"You know what?" Lapis said. "I don't know you, but your attitude is really starting to wear on me."

"Oh, please, like you're one to talk," Catra replied. "I saw your memories, remember?"

"Guys, guys, I know there's still a lot of animosity between us, but our temporary truce wasn't supposed to be _this_ temporary!" Bow said, trying to quell the hostilities.

"It's not so much a truce as much as it is an agreement not to kill each other while we're stranded here," said Frosta.

"Isn't that what a truce is?" said Bismuth. "I'm actually asking here."

"Ahem, the plan?" said Peridot. "We won't _need_ to be in contact with each other if we escape. So, I came up with a brilliant plan for us to escape! Technically, Lapis did, but I supported it, which is basically the same thing."

Catra took a moment to process the statement "Is...is this real?" she asked. "Am I delirious from a lack of oxygen or something?"

"Alright, look, I'll give you the abridged version," Lapis said. "Me and Peridot fly to a nearby colony or something, nab a ship, bring it back here, and fly everyone home. Easy, right?"

"Yeah, the 'or something' doesn't exactly fill me with confidence," Bow said. "Do you even know if there are any colonies nearby?"

"_I_ don't, but Peridot has a near encyclopedic knowledge of every Gem station ever made," Lapis said. "Right, Peridot?"

Peridot slowly nodded, smiling. "You can say that again! ...In that, you can say it. It certainly is a statement that is...a statement."

"You don't know if anything's nearby, do you?"

Still smiling, Peridot shook her head. "Nnnnno…"

Lapis sighed. "Well, I suppose we could just wander around this arm of the galaxy until we stumble across something."

"Wait!" Everyone turned in the direction of the shout: Entrapta. Despite being stuck on this planet for almost a week, she was just as chipper as ever. "I have an idea to augment your idea!"

"Great, what is it?" Connie asked.

"We'll find somewhere that has a ship by using the same method we found our way here: Adora's sword!"

"Oh, that's right," Glimmer said. "I forgot it could do that."

Entrapta made her way over to Adora, who had napped through the whole conversation. "Adora, wake up!"

Adora leapt out of her sleep. "Gah! Wh-what? Are we home yet?" A brief look around showed that they were indeed not home. "Oh. Entrapta, what is it? Couldn't this wait 'til morning?"

"I'm not sure this planet has mornings, but no it can't!" Entrapta said. "We need to use your sword to find the nearest Homeworld colony so Lapis and Peridot can get us a ship to get home!"

Adora rubbed her eyes. "Okay, that's a lot to take in. Something about a colony?" She sat up and held her sword out in front of her. "Sword, can you...show us the colonies or whatever?"

A projected view of space emerged from the Sword of Protection's runestone. Covering only a few galaxies, there were only about seven or so colonies visible.

"Hmm, that's not right," Peridot said. "Homeworld has way more colonies that this. And none of them are here!"

"Oh, _now_ you know where the colonies are," said Glimmer.

"Well, now that I can see them, yeah!" Peridot retorted.

"Wait a minute," Entrapta said. "Show us all _Gem_ colonies."

Nothing happened. "I think it only responds to me," Adora said. "Show us all Gem colonies."

The image receded, only to return with a new set of data. There were many more points of light present this time.

"Aha!" said Peridot. "Look, Lapis, there's one only a few solar systems away! We'll be back in a day!"

"Wow, so this thing works in real-time?" Entrapta said.

"Looks like it," said Peridot, pointing to one of the dots. "This one wasn't colonized until after Etheria disappeared. Based on what you guys told me, at least."

Suddenly, Entrapta's eyes lit up. "Adora? Do you mind if I try something?" she asked.

"Uh, sure. What is it?"

Can you...ask the sword to find Eternia?"

Adora did so. A point of light appeared on the map, a few galaxies away.

"Wow," Entrapta said, enamored by the tiny pinprick of light. "I've spent my whole life studying First Ones tech, and now I have a way to find their home planet! Oh, what I wouldn't give to go there one day!"

"Yeah, well, maybe _after_ we deal with...all of this," Glimmer said, gesturing to the expanse around them. "Hey, are you guys okay?"

Pearl and Peridot did not look okay. They stared at the map with looks of concern. "Could you...zoom in?" Peridot asked.

"Uh, Pearl? What's the matter?" asked Connie. Adora zoomed in on Eternia, granting a closer view of its solar system.

"These coordinates," Pearl said softly. "It's Homeworld. Eternia _is_ Homeworld."


	2. Hope at Last

Chapter Two: Hope at Last

* * *

"W-what?" Connie said quietly. "Are you sure?"

"One hundred percent sure," said Peridot. "I lived on Homeworld for hundreds of years before I came to Earth, and there's no mistaking it. If the sword is to be trusted, which I have no reason to doubt so far, Homeworld and Eternia are one and the same."

"Eternia? Is that anything like Etheria?" Steven, who had been absent for much of the conversation, had just now made his presence known.

"Oh, Steven, you're awake!" said Lapis. "How have you been holding up?"

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine," the youth answered. "A little hungry, though. Okay, a _lot_ hungry."

"Join the club," said Scorpia, who had also been silent the entire time.

"Everyone, don't you understand what this means?" said Entrapta. "I figured out a little while ago that Gems are First Ones tech, which was how I was able to control them with that tower back when, and I-"

"_Entrapta_," Catra growled.

"Er, right, well, if the First ones' homeworld and the Gems' homeworld are one and the same, then that means the Gems completely overthrew their masters! This could be why the First Ones came to Etheria in the first place! They were looking for a new home!"

Steven shook his head. "Man, why does Homeworld have to destroy everything?"

"That's nothing," Adora said, "none of this would have gone like it did if Mara hadn't gone rogue."

"Mara?" asked Steven.

"It's a long story," Glimmer said. "And the Gems being made by the First Ones is interesting, but how does that help us get home?"

"I'm not sure," said Entrapta. "Maybe it'll come into play later!"

"So...I guess we're going with our plan," Peridot said. "Unless anyone has any better ideas?"

"I wish we did, but no," said Steven. "Good luck out there, you two."

Steven hugged both Gems goodbye. "Sorry to leave so soon after I got here," said Lapis. "We'll try to be back as soon as we can."

"Yeah, don't worry about us," Peridot assured Steven. "I know these colonies like the back of my hand. We'll be fine!"

"I sure hope so," Steven said. "Just be careful out there."

Watery wings emerged from Lapis' back, just above her Gem. She and Peridot grasped each other's hands and rose into the air, and just like that, they had gone past the sky.

* * *

"So, how long have we been stuck here?" Bismuth asked. "All the days just sort of blend together after a while."

"It's been a week," Perfuma answered. "At least, I think it has. To be honest, I-I don't know."

"Does it really matter?" said Mermista. "We're all going to starve to death soon, who cares how long we've been here?"

"Don't say things like that!" Frosta cried. "Peridot and the blue one will be back soon, we just need to...to...I don't know…"

"Mom's gotta be so worried about me," Glimmer said. "Even if I do survive, she'll probably kill me when we get back…"

The Crystal Gems, including Bismuth, were the only ones present who didn't need food or water to live, were having what could only be described as pre-survivor's guilt. Pearl in particular had refused to leave Steven or Connie's side after Lapis and Peridot had left.

"Steven, just try not to think about food, okay?" she said. "You won't be as hungry that way."

"So, kind of like what you do, right?" Steven said with a weak smile.

Pearl giggled softly. "Yes, Steven, just like what I do."

"You know," Connie said, "the human body can survive for up to a month without food." She turned towards some of their friends from Etheria. "I'm not sure if you guys are 'human' in the same way I am, but I assume you're close enough."

"So, we're gonna be fine?" said Bow.

"Not exactly," Connie said. "Humans can't survive without water for more than a week."

"Well, great," said Mermista. "And we ran out of water five days ago."

"Don't worry, guys," Steven said. "Once Peridot and Lapis get back, we'll all be able to go back home."

"Well, I sure hope they get back soon," said Scorpia. She was absent-mindedly scraping her claw through the dirt. "I'm used to going without any water, but this is a bit much, even for me. This place is basically a desert, but it's cold, it's dark, there's absolutely nothing for-ugh, I HATE this planet!"

Scorpia leapt to her feet, and began kicking the ground itself. "Rgh, stupid, ugly-This place is the worst! You'd have to invent a new word to describe this planet: craptastic!"

Meanwhile, neither Adora nor Catra were enjoying Denebria, either. Their apparent animosity for one another had taken a backseat due to being stranded together on the same desert wasteland, though they still weren't exactly fond of one another.

"So, I guess you won," Adora said.

Catra's ears perked up. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, we're all stranded here, with no way to get back to Etheria. Without She-Ra or the other princesses, the Horde's going to wipe out the Rebellion. You got what you wanted."

"Are you kidding me?" said Catra, sitting up. "Get over yourself! You think you and your little band of misfits was all that? I'm sure the Rebellion's doing just fine without you! If anything, it's the Horde that's in trouble because _I'm_ gone!"

"Oh, come on, the Horde was on their path of destruction way before either or us came into the picture!"

"Well, whatever," Catra said. "Even if the Horde does win, it doesn't matter to me unless I'm there to see it."

Adora snickered. "Nothing but the best for your people, huh?"

"Hey, I _earned_ my place as Hordak's commander!" said Catra. "I didn't just stumble across a magical sword, I crawled to the top from the literal bottom! No thanks to you…"

Adora turned to look at her former friend. "Catra, I-"

Whatever she was going to say next, she was interrupted as a faint rumbling sound permeating the air. Just loud enough to be noticeable, and shake the dust beneath their feet.

"Uh, is that another earthquake?" asked Bow.

"Not this time," Glimmer said. "Wait, look!" She pointed upwards to a streak of light approaching the group.

"Ooh, a shooting star!" said Scorpia. "Okay, I wish that, um, that we could get off this planet and go home! Oh, wait-aw, now I said it, it's not gonna come true!"

"Wait, that's a ship!" Bismuth said. "A Gem ship! Hey, Steven, your friends came through!"

"They did!" Steven said. However, the ship that was approaching, while it was a Gem ship, was one that was quite familiar to him. "Hang on a minute...guys, doesn't that ship look familiar?"

The green vessel came closer into view. "Uh...not really," said Amethyst.

"It's the _Sun Incinerator_!" shouted Connie. "That's Lars' ship!"

"But how?" said Pearl. "Lars was back on Earth, and his ship was still on Etheria."

Then it must be the off-colors!" said Steven. "I knew they'd come back eventually!"

The _Sun Incinerator_ made landfall not far from the group, who, despite being half-starved, quickly made their way over to the ship. Steven, of course, lead the charge. Once they arrived, the doors slid open with a hiss.

"Guys, you're here!" he yelled. "It's good to-huh?"

Once the steam cleared, it was not the off-colors who were inside waiting for them. Instead, three figures stood in the opening, recognizable to anyone familiar with the Horde as Rogelio, Lonnie, and Kyle.

"Wait, what?" said Connie. "Who are you three?"

"Well well well, look who finally came through for us," Catra said.

"Came through for _you_?" said Lonnie. "Remind me again why _we_ always have to pick up the pieces after _you_ fail?"

"Ugh, of course it's the Horde!" Glimmer groaned. "Way to get our hopes up for nothing!" she growled at the cadets, before tromping back the way she came. "Come on, let's go wait for Lapis."

"Hold on, Glimmer," said Bow, catching his friend by her shoulders. "I know the Horde are our enemies, but we might not get another opportunity like this."

"What!?" cried Glimmer. "Are you suggesting that we go with the Horde!?"

"And what about Lapis and Peridot?" Steven said.

"I know, but anything's better than being stranded here," Bow said. "As for Peridot and Lapis, I'm not entirely sure they'll be back in time to help us. It's the best option we have right now."

Suddenly, Frosta shoved her way to the front of the group. "_Dyaguyshavefood_!?" she shouted at the newly arrived Horde cadets.

"E-excuse me?" Kyle said quietly.

"_Food_!" yelled the small princess. "_Do-you-have-food_!?"

"Uh, well, we have some ration bars in the back but-" Before Kyle could say any more, Frosta had quickly run into the ship to search for the much-needed sustenance.

"Well, that answers that!" said Entrapta. "I mean-Catra, it's okay if they come with us, right?"

Catra growled. "Look, they're our enemies. I don't think that-"

"Aw, come on, Wildcat," said Scorpia. "We gotta at least let them come back to Etheria with us. They'd do it for us, right?"

After a brief pause, Catra finally relented. "Okay, fine. But we're taking you back to the Fright Zone as our prisoners. Now get on the ship."

"But, Peridot and Lapis…" Steven said.

"We'll come back for them," said Garnet, gently urging him onto the ship. "But right now, we need to get you something to eat."

"She's right, Steven," said Connie. "Besides, they might even realize where we went when we get back."

Reluctantly, Steven got on board the ship, following the rest of the Gems and Princess Alliance. Except…

"Ugh, where's Sea Hawk?" groaned Mermista. "If he fell asleep again, I swear…"

"Don't worry, I'll go get him," said Scorpia. "Save me a window seat!"

The scorpion woman made her way back to where the temporary alliance had made their even more temporary home. Indeed, Sea Hawk had not been woken up when the others had left. Scorpia prodded him awake.

"Hmm? Huh? What's it now?" he said groggily. He looked up to see Scorpia's massive form looming over him.

"Hey man!" she said. "We were just going to get on that big ship over there and get out of here. Wanna come?"


	3. First of Many

Chapter Three: First of Many

* * *

Lapis Lazulis, as is to be expected of Gems capable of flying through space itself, are remarkably fast flyers. Not just marginally speedy, either: these blue Gems are capable of warping space around themselves to get to where they're going faster than light, able to travel hundreds of light years in a matter of hours. Not literally, of course-nothing is truly faster than light-but they warp space so as to arrive at their destination sooner than light would have. Think of it like taking a shortcut.

Lapises can also carry a passenger with them during this time, multiple if they carry water as well. As 'our' Lapis didn't have access to any water this time, she was only capable of bringing Peridot with her.

"So...how exactly are we going to blend in without anyone recognizing us?" Lapis asked the small green Gem.

"Simple," replied Peridot. "All we need to do is slip in, grab some limb enhancers for me, and we'll blend right in. Simple, right?"

Lapis was rightly skeptical. "In theory. How do you know we won't get caught?"

"Because we won't!" said Peridot. Lapis decided not to comment.

Not long after, the pair came upon the colony they sought. "There it is-Yellow Diamond Colony #17!" Peridot announced. "Now, land over there, near the armory. And be careful to avoid the scanners."

"Yeah, I...don't think they look the same as in Era-1," Lapis said.

"Right," Peridot said with a sigh. "Bring me down over by that grey building to your left, and fly in-between the other buildings."

As the two descended closer to the colony's surface, they noticed a suspicious lack of activity. The planet, like most Gem territories, was usually bustling, but for some reason, there was only silence. "What's going on here?" asked Lapis. "Everything looks so...dead."

"Hey, at least that works in our favor," Peridot said. "This way, nobody will notice us. Which they would have by now, with your flying…"

"You know I could just drop you now, right?" said Lapis.

"Please don't," Peridot said meekly.

Both Gems touched down near the armory, which strangely seemed to have been cleared out of weapons. The few that remained were scattered haphazardly around the floor. It didn't take a genius to realize that something bad had happened here. Peridot, however, remained blissfully unaware of that fact, selectively or otherwise.

"Aha, there we go!" Peridot said, having spotted a set of limb enhancers. "Now, just give me a moment to suit up...I'm sorry, but do you mind?" Lapis looked away as Peridot donned the prosthetic devices. "Ta-da! Just like before we met Steven, right? All we're missing is Jasper!"

"Oh, yeah, then the old team would be back together," Lapis groaned. "Come on, let's just go find a ship so we can get off this ghost town."

They began walking down the streets of the seemingly-abandoned colony. "You know, I'm starting to think this is an entire ghost _planet_," said Peridot. "Just where is everybody?"

"If we're lucky, we might not find out," Lapis replied. She looked all around, not seeing a single ship. "How is it that there isn't one ship anywhere?"

"I guess everyone took them when they left," said Peridot. "Maybe we should-hold on, did you hear that?"

Some rubble had been displaced in a nearby alleyway, drawing the green Gem's attention. "Yeah," said Lapis. "What was that?"

Peridot put her limb enhancer in blaster configuration. "I don't know, but let's find out." She snuck towards the source of the noise as Lapis watched from afar, unnamused with her cohort's antics.

"Peridot, it's probably nothing," she said. "You don't need to act all skittish like that."

"'Probably nothing?' Lapis, that could be what caused everyone to leave!" she countered. "It could be anything! even-WAUGH!" Peridot practically leapt out of her physical form as the source of the noise revealed herself: a lone Ruby, her gemstone on her forehead.

"Is it safe to come out now?"the Ruby asked. "You two are here, so it must be, right?"

"Um…" Lapis looked around. "I guess so."

"Oh, thank the stars!" exclaimed the Ruby. She pulled herself out from the loose rubble and strolled past Peridot, who was still pointing her blaster at her. Not that the Ruby seemed to mind.

"So, um, we just got here," Lapis said, "so do you think you could fill us in on exactly what happened here? Like where everyone went?"

"Oh, they all left," the Ruby said. "Once that thing cut through our defenses, the order came in to evacuate."

"Wait, the whole planet colony was evacuated?" asked Lapis.

"I think so, but I don't know for sure," she replied. "I kind of got left here…"

"Hold on, 'thing?' What thing?" asked Peridot.

"You know, the weird purple thing," she answered. "It just showed up out of nowhere and started blasting everything!"

Lapis' eyes widened. "This purple thing…" Lapis said. "It didn't happen to be about this tall, dressed in a robe, holding a staff with a glowing crystal on it?"

"That's the one," said the Ruby. "Why? Have you seen it before?"

Peridot and Lapis exchanged a glance. "Could you excuse for on moment?" asked Peridot. Both Gems huddled together, facing away from the Ruby.

"This isn't good!" whispered Peridot. "Skeletor was here! Who's to say he isn't _still _here?"

"If he was still here, he would have attacked us by now," Lapis said. "Besides, he probably would have found her if he stuck around," she said, gesturing to the Ruby.

"Hmm…" Peridot looked suspiciously at the small Gem. "Hey you! Skele-I mean, that purple thing couldn't shapeshift, could it?"

She shrugged. "If it could, I didn't see it," she said.

Peridot turned back to Lapis. "Okay, so he isn't disguised as a Ruby," she said. "At least, not this particular Ruby."

Lapis rolled her eyes. "Let's just find a ship and get out of here." She went back over to the Ruby. "Do you happen to know if there are any ships around here?"

"Not a single one," she responded. "I've been looking around for a while now, and the entire area's been cleaned out. I was going to head for the other side of the planet when you showed up."

"Looks like we're in the same boat, then," said Peridot.

"What's a boat?" the Ruby asked.

"Nevermind that," Peridot said. "In the meantime, we'll just have to keep looking for a ship."

"You mean like that one?" said the Ruby.

All three of them looked upwards. Indeed, a large vessel was approaching them. As it drew closer, more of its features became recognizable: it was orange in color, and vaguely diamond-shaped.

"Yeah," Lapis said quietly. "Like that one."

Air blew past the trio as the ship came in for a landing. "Do you think its owner would let us borrow it?" said Peridot.

"We should ask her," the Ruby said. "Probably not, though."

A ramp descended down from the vessel with a hiss and steam. Light shone from inside, but the inhabitants soon came into view. Flanked by a pair of Citrines, the ship's apparent captain descended the ramp. A captain who Peridot instantly recognized.

"Wh-Hessonite!?" she exclaimed.

"Hessonite?" said Lapis. "The same Hessonite from Earth? With the Prism?"

"Indeed, it is me!" the Garnet said. "The very same."

"Wait, you two know her?" said the Ruby.

Hessonite's eyes narrowed. "It would seem they do," she said, approaching Peridot. "You there, Peridot! I feel like I've seen you before. And you've clearly seen me before…"

"Well, that's, uh, because...I went with you to Earth to retrieve your prism. Remember?"

Hessonite stared at Peridot for quite some time, the latter of which was looking quite nervous. "Yes, I suppose I remember you. Tell me, how did you make it offworld? I thought you were captured by those Crystal Gems?"

"How I escaped?" Peridot said. "Well, I...I slipped away when they weren't looking, and I rewired my battle-pod to be capable of space flight."

"And where did you go?" she asked. While all of this was going on, the Ruby had climbed aboard Hessonite's ship.

"I, uh…" Peridot said, unable to think of anything.

"She met me in space!" Lapis said. "And she told me everything that happened. And now we're here, looking for a ship."

"How fortunate for you, I happen to have one," Hessonite said. "Come along, Peridot. Your Lapis Lazuli friend may come along as well." She made her way back up the ramp.

"Actually, Hes-My Hessonite, we needed to-"

"That was an order, Peridot," Hessonite said. "We have a lot of work to do, what with this magical threat on the loose."

Peridot looked around. It seemed she had worked herself into a corner. "What do we do now?" she whispered to Lapis.

"Just play along for now," Lapis said. "We'll steal a ship as soon as we can. Steven and the others will be fine, don't you worry."

"Mmm...okay," Peridot said. Both of them walked aboard Hessonite's ship, which prepared for takeoff.


	4. An Uneasy Alliance

Chapter Four: An Uneasy Alliance

* * *

Of all the people our heroes had anticipated coming to their rescue, the off-colors were quite low on the list. As such, they were quite surprised to see the _Sun Incinerator_ landing. Even more so when the Horde cadets stepped out, as they were even lower on that list. For many of our heroes, i.e. the Crystal Gems, they didn't even register them as a factor.

"How did you even manage to get this thing flying?" Entrapta asked. "This technology is _way_ beyond what most of you in the Horde are used to! ...No offense, of course."

"Well, it just so happens that you aren't the only one who knows a thing or two about First Ones tech," Lonnie said. "I-I wasn't referring to myself, I meant Hordak. He hooked up a new control panel to this thing so we could fly it."

Entrapta examined said panel. "Ooh...I may have melded Gem and Horde tech before, but never this seamlessly! I'll have to ask to see his notes when we get back!"

"If he _takes_ us back,"Catra said. "Something tells me he won't be too happy about us losing the Staff."

"Ah, no worries! We'll just explain what happened," said Scorpia. "Then we'll all just go back to our regular, everyday lives."

"The sad thing is, you probably believe that, don't you?" Catra said. "In case you forgot, that staff is in the hands of a power-hungry maniac intent on destroying anything in his path. Even if Hordak lets this whole thing go, we still have to deal with Skeletor."

Lonnie gave them a weird look. "Skele...who now?"

"Oh, right, him," said Steven. "Long story short, we wanted to bring the staff back to this wizard guy called Keldor so he could help us, but it turns out he tricked us, and stranded us on that planet with the intent on...doing something evil, we aren't sure exactly what his plan is yet."

"But whatever it is, it can't be good," Adora added. She approached her old friend. "That's why we can't worry about Hordak right now. We haven't seen much of Skeletor, but we know he's powerful."

"_Crazy_ powerful," Amethyst added. "He handed us all our asses without even trying! I mean, we didn't know what to expect, but still."

"Right," Adora said. "Look, I know it doesn't sound appealing, but we'll need to work together to have any hope of taking him down."

Catra replied almost immediately: "No."

"Aww, come on, you guys!" said Bow. "What about our truce?"

"That was a temporary truce while we were all stranded on that wasteland of a planet!" said Catra. "But now that we're headed back home, the truce is off. And the only place you're going is the Fright Zone prison block."

"But aren't you the least bit worried about Skeletor?" asked Steven.

"Not really," Catra said bluntly. "He's not even on Etheria, so I don't care what he does out here."

"But what about all the planets out here?" said Steven. "What about Earth?"

"What about them?"

Adora sighed. "Catra, please. It doesn't even have to be a truce, just a temporary ceasefire until we deal with this problem."

"I think that's the definition of a truce," said Pearl.

"Whatever. All we need to do is not fight each other until we deal with Skeletor. Then we can go back to hating each other. We'll even let you take us prisoner without a fight, just to prove we're not enemies."

"We will!?" cried Glimmer.

"Now, hold on one minute," said Bismuth. "Blondie here doesn't speak for me. I don't know what the 'Horde' is, but I'm sure not letting you lock me up without a fight!"

"Well, you want a fight?" said Scorpia. "Because I'd be happy to give you one!"

"I don't like your odds," Garnet said. "Even with the princesses out of power, we still have almost twice as many fighters as you do." She summoned her gauntlets. "Choose your next moves carefully."

"_Ooor_, instead of letting loose inside a crowded ship out in space, we could wait until we land to start fighting," Connie said.

"I'm with Connie here," said Steven. "Except instead of fighting when we land, how about we _don't_ fight?"

"Yes, let's do that!" said Adora.

"Hmm...Catra, they're making a lot of sense," said Entrapta. "This is some sensitive equipment, and it could be damaged in a fight. The last thing we need right now is to be stranded just after we got rescued from being stranded!"

After much deliberation, Catra finally relented. "Fine," she said with a huff. "I guess we can talk about this once we land."

Garnet's gauntlets disappeared. "Good choice," she said.

Entrapta turned her attention back to the control panel. "You know, there's something I've been wondering ever since you first showed up. How did you manage to get out of Despondos?"

"Easy. You can thank Hordak for that one," Lonnie said. "He didn't give us the exact details, but he said he attached some sort of a wormhole generator to the hyperdrive. I don't pay attention to the technical stuff unless I need to, but it lets us open a portal that only this ship can use."

Entrapta thought for a moment. "Wormhole generator...Wait a minute, wormhole generator! If I'm not mistaken, this is a modified version of the device we first used to bring this very ship into the Fright Zone! Oh, Hordak, you beautiful genius, you've saved us again! Can I fire it up? _Please_?"

"Sure," Lonnie said. "Knock yourself out."

"Hordak, here we come!" shouted Entrapta. "Er, I mean, Etheria, here we come!" With the push of a few buttons, the ship's hyperdrive kicked into full gear. Only with the modifications made, rather than propel the _Sun Incinerator_ at faster-than-light speeds through the universe, it instead opened up a miniscule tear in time and space, big enough only for the ship and its passengers, and open only long enough for them to slip through.

Entrapta was quite excited. "We did it!" she said. "I knew we could!"

"Uh...do what, exactly? Get back home?" said Kyle.

"No, I meant open a portal between dimensions," said Entrapta. "By 'we,' I meant me and Hordak.

"Hmm...didn't you guys already do that, though?" said Scorpia.

"Yes, but now we have a way to get back and forth!" she said. "And this one isn't broken yet!"

Having traveled to Despondos, Etheria was in view. The new crew piloted the ship towards the Fright Zone, where their prisoners would be detained.

"Hang on...something's wrong here," Lonnie said.

"Wrong? Wrong how?" asked Kyle nervously.

"Let me take a look," said Entrapta. "Ah, I see. Some sort of gravitational anomaly is pulling us closer to the planet's surface. Odd, it only seems to be affecting our ship…"

"I don't like where this is headed," said Connie.

"Are you sure it's a gravitational anomaly?" asked Bow, checking out the data for himself. "It looks to me like it's something else."

"Like what?" Glimmer asked.

"Hard to say. Almost like a...oh, no." Whatever was causing the anomaly nearly tripled in power, causing the ship to tremble.

"Yeah, I _really_ don't like where this is headed," said Adora.

The _Sun Incinerator_ was yanked out of its slow descent and towards the ground by the unseen force as warning sirens blared. The Gem ship was able to withstand the heat of reentry just fine, but it was colliding with the surface that would be a problem.

"Everyone out of the way!" shouted Pearl, running over to the console. "Let's see here, uh, w-which one is…?"

"Pearl, what's wrong!?" asked Connie.

"I don't know how to work this Horde tech!" she said.

Entrapta pulled herself up to the controls. "What do we need to do?" she asked.

"We have to counterbalance this force with our thrusters!" Pearl replied. "Take off straight up at full speed!"

"On it!" Entrapta entered the commands into the console, causing the ship to turn itself towards the sky. The thrusters turned on full blast, but the force was still stronger. Fortunately, this last minute fix saved them all from literally crashing and burning.

The ship itself was mostly intact, if a little banged up. Coughing, Connie stood up from the floor, waving smoke out of her face. "Is everyone alright?" she said.

Perfuma did a quick headcount. "Mermista, Sea Hawk, Frosta, Bow, Glimmer...where's Adora?"

Garnet looked around. "I don't see Steven, either!"

Looking around, to just about everyone's horror, the door was opened.

"It must have been broken open by the crash!" said Entrapta.

"Steven!" Quickly, all five Crystal Gems hurried outside. They were followed close behind by Glimmer and Bow. Scorpia lay not too far from the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine too, thanks for asking," she said.

Fortunately, Steven and Adora hadn't been flung violently from the ship during the wreck. Both of them stood not far from the crash site, unharmed.

"Thank stars-Steven!" Pearl yelled, running towards him. However, it soon became apparent that the both of them were transfixed by something up in the air. Pearl and the others looked up at what it was that could possibly be so troubling.

Skeletor levitated above them, his body crackling with raw magical energy.


	5. The Shadow of Death

Chapter Five: The Shadow of Death

* * *

"He...he's here," Bow said quietly.

Skeletor was indeed here, and had discovered the group. He slowly lowered from his position in the air towards them.

"But how is he here?" asked Glimmer. "How did he find us?"

The abomination touched down on the grass not ten feet away from them. Everyone took several steps back. "Planet Etheria," he said, his voice raspy and deep. "So this is where my people sought refuge from their oppressors. In truth, I was expecting something far more worthy of my time. Instead, I found a cesspool of war and decadence. The perfect place to truly begin my crusade."

Raising his staff into the air, Skeletor then brought it down against the dirt. Magical energy split the air in a shockwave, sending everyone who was nearby flying backwards.

"Once I have finished with you…" Skeletor raised his staff, pointing the end at the heroes. "...you will wish you had remained on Denebria to die."

Steven pulled himself off of the ground, summoning his shield. "We aren't going to let you get away with this! Right, guys?" He turned around, expecting to see everyone else rallying behind him. Instead, Gems and princesses alike hung back, wearing expressions of apprehension. The Horde trio was nowhere to be seen.

"Steven, let's think about this," said Connie. "We barely survived last time, I don't think we should fight him again."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Steven said. "Run away?"

Steven was then grabbed by his shirt and lifted into Skeletor's face. "Yes," he said. "If you can." Steven recoiled, not just because of his rotten skull and corpse-like breath, but because of his eyes as well. Staring into the tiny purple pinpricks of light in the seas of darkness that were his eye sockets filled Steven with a dread he could hardly understand. The weight of death seemed to weigh upon him, his place in this sheer, cold reality.

Fortunately, his being grabbed by the undead menace spurred the Gems into action. Skeletor was struck in the shoulder by Pearl's spear, causing him to drop the boy. The weapon didn't pierce through him, although it should have by all means; it merely knocked Steven out of his grip, who scurried to join the others.

"We've got an advantage this time," said Adora. "He's on our turf this time! For the honor of Grayskull!"

A blinding light transformed her into She-Ra. Wielding the Sword of Protection, she stood beside the Crystal Gems.

"Not sure if you remembered, but we're still out of magic!" said Mermista. "What are we supposed to do against _that_!?"

"Uh, just stay back, I guess," Bow said. "We'll handle this!"

"Will you?" said Glimmer. "You saw what he did to us last time, how are we supposed to win?"

"He caught us by surprise last time, is all," Bismuth said. Her arms shapeshifted into hammers. "He won't be so lucky this time!"

"How quaint!" Skeletor said, amused. "The band of misfits believe themselves to be greater than I!" Wind swept past them all as Skeletor began to glow. "I believe I shall show them their place."

It was Adora who made the first move, charging at the sorcerer. Without even needing to access his wellspring of energy, Skeletor buffeted the warrior aside with his hand. She stood at least three feet taller than him, and yet he threw her aside like it was nothing.

"Adora!" cried Glimmer. She tried, desperately, to draw up some magic from inside her, but nothing came. Without recharging, there was nothing the princess could do.

The Crystal Gems were not doing much better. Garnet and Pearl were able to land a few hits on him, but Skeletor did not so much as flinch. Amethyst tried to pull the staff out of his hands, but was yanked off of the ground and hurled into Bismuth for her troubles.

"Alright, that's it!" said Frosta. "Powers or not, I'm not gonna sit around here while skull-face over there pushes everyone around! It's time to get serious!" With no weapons of her own, Frosta instead picked up two rocks, hurling one at the skeletal aberration.

More confused than distracted, he turned his head towards her. "Yeah? You like that, bonehead? There's more where that came from! Come on! You're not worth my time!"

"Frosta, what are you doing!?" yelled Perfuma.

"I'm taking him down a peg, what's it look like?" the young princess replied, unaware that Skeletor had approached from behind her. She turned back only to be startled by his sudden appearance.

"Do that again," he said.

Afraid, but still intent on fighting, Frosta pushed aside her doubt. "Y-you want more? Okay, I've got more!" She threw another stone, which collided with Skeletor's chest, to no effect.

Skeletor's gravelly laughter filled the air. "Poor child," he said. "So young and full of spunk. What a shame that your life must be cut so short."

Suddenly, a terrible aura extended from Skeletor's body. It filled the nearby area in a manner of seconds, gripping all of them with an all-consuming, paralyzing terror. It was though their fight or flight instinct had been triggered, though their bodies refused to do either.

Every last drop of Frosta's bravery had been drained. She trembled weakly as Skeletor slowly approached her, each footstep seeming to shake the very ground beneath them.

"Frosta! Run!" yelled Adora. But just as she was too scared to do so, so too was anyone too afraid to intervene. It wasn't just that they were scared: it was a sense of dread the likes of which they had never experienced before. All they could do was watch helplessly as Skeletor placed his staff against Frosta's chest, the crystal began to glow.

Just moments before anything could become of this, someone collided suddenly with the fiend, knocking everyone else free of his magical grasp, if only for just a moment.

"Huh?" Frosta looked up at her rescuer. "Scorpia?"

The scorpion woman stood, quickly scooping up the young princess and quickly getting her away from Skeletor. "Yeah, it's me. What's going on?"

Skeletor fired a blast of energy at the two of them, hitting Scorpia in the shoulder. The blast wasn't strong enough to pierce her exoskeleton, but it did send them both tumbling to the ground.

"You still persist," said Skeletor. "After all of this, you still have not given up." There was a clear barely-hidden anger beneath his voice. "You should know by now that you are nothing in the face of death. And if you do not know…" Both his staff and his eyes lit up. "...then I will teach you."

A pulse emanated from his staff, its sheer power sending everyone to their knees. But it was not sending energy to them-it was taking it. The grass surrounding Skeletor immediately wilted, its life force being taken to fuel his dark power. It wasn't just organics that were affected, as the Gems' forms began to flicker and distort as they grew weaker.

Connie struggled to get to her feet, this power sapping her strength. Looking down at her arm, she was greeted by the unwelcome sight of her arm becoming thin and emaciated. Startled, she felt her face, feeling that it was becoming likewise. "S-Ste…" She tried to shout, but her very voice was being sapped. And it looked like everyone else was following suit. Everyone except Adora.

The blonde warrior had managed to resist Skeletor's magic, if only just. Using the Sword of Protection to steady herself, she made her way over to him, intent on doing something, anything, to stop this.

It seemed that her enemy had not noticed her approach. Adora raised her sword above her head, and brought it down with every last bit of strength she had left. But it stopped in its tracks; Skeletor had lifted his arm, the blade striking harmlessly against his forearm as if it was made of metal.

"There is always one," he said. He reached out his hand, grabbing Adora by the throat and lifting her closer to his face. Her sword fell to the ground as She-Ra reverted back to her original form. "There is always one who refuses to succumb to despair. One who stands stalwart in the face of overwhelming odds...only to inevitably be cut down with the rest of them. You may bear the sword, but you are not She-Ra. You are simply a lost little girl, lost and hopeless."

Skeletor extended his arm, lifting Adora further off the ground. "You are strong, but your strength is nothing in the face of the end. None but the very Diamonds themselves could hope to stand against me. Death itself submits to my power. I am nothingness made flesh. I am eternal. I was there when Castle Grayskull fell to the Gems' advance. I was there when Etheria was sealed away by Mara. And I will still be here, long after you have died, your bodies have gone to the worms. Long after the universe has gone silent by my hand."

Adora could say nothing. Skeletor's claws dug into her neck. He continued to drain the life from everyone and everything.

All would have been lost, had the others not intervened.

It started with a simple breeze. Skeletor's powers had indeed kicked up a cutting wind, but this gale was far more gentle, and brought with it the scent of life. It grew stronger and stronger, before a powerful tornado rammed into Skeletor, causing him to release his hold on Adora, whom the wind swept away to safety.

Glimmer slowly got to her feet, Skeletor's power no longer having a hold over her. "Is that…?"

Skeletor growled, firing a beam at Adora. Before it could hit, a white barrier assembled itself around her, blocking the attack.

Bow looked to the side. A trio of women stood nearby, defending them from Skeletor's attack. "It's Netossa and Spinnerella! And Queen Angella!"

These three were also joined by Brightmoon soldiers, who though lacking in magical ability, were still prepared to defend the heroes.

Skeletor looked up to the sky where Angella hovered. "An angel?" he said. "I believed them to be extinct. Perhaps we should make it so…" Skeletor fired a beam at her, but Angella countered with her own. The pink and purple lasers met, each struggling to force past the other. While Skeletor seemed to have the upper hand at first, a blast of magic from another source distracted him just enough for Angella's beam to win out, striking him and pushing him back slightly.

"ENOUGH!" Skeletor shouted, sounding truly angry for the first time. Angella, Castaspella, and the rest stood ready to face him. "I will not sit here and suffer this humiliation!" A portal opened up behind him. "You can delay your timely demise, but the reaper comes to collect everyone. I will not forget this. I will grow even more powerful, and reduce everyone on this entire planet to ash." Skeletor stepped through the portal and was gone.

Glimmer looked around. The others seemed to be recovering from Skeletor's attack. "What happened?" she asked. When suddenly…

"Glimmer!" The princess was completely blindsided as a flying object collided with her and scooped her up in a hug. That object was her mother. "Glimmer, you're back! I was so worried! Where were you?" Tears of joy and relief fell from Queen Angella's eyes.

"Mom! I missed you, too!" Glimmer's words were muffled by virtue of her mother's cheek squishing against hers in their hug.

Steven stood up, checking his body to make sure none of him had wilted. "We're alive...we're alive!" he said. He looked around at their rescuers. "So, are these friends of yours?"

"Oh, definitely," said Adora. But she was only half-listening; her focus was drawn to something different. Catra, Scorpia, and Entrapta stood on a nearby hilltop, unnoticed by the newcomers from Brightmoon. She locked eyes with Catra for a brief moment before the tree of them were gone.

"And what is with this 'Skeletor' person?" Castaspella asked of Glimmer, who was still being carried by her mother.

"You know, it's...it's kind of a long story," she said. "Can I fill you in on the way back to Brightmoon? It's been a tough few days for us…"


	6. New Arrivals

Chapter Six: New Arrivals

* * *

When Peridot and Lapis had arrived on the nearby colony, it was only supposed to take them a few minutes: get in, find a ship, and get out. Simple. The thing is, neither of them had expected the colony to have been previously ravaged by Skeletor. And they definitely didn't expect to run into Hessonite, of all Gems.

Now, aboard Hessonite's cruiser, Peridot tried to brainstorm a way to return to Denebria to rescue the others, unaware that they had already been rescued. "Okay, now let's see…" the small Gem said, pacing back and forth beside a large window. "This ship doesn't have any escape pods, for whatever reason, so that's out. And we have basically no chance of fighting Hessonite and taking the ship by force. So that pretty much leaves stealing another ship once we get back to Homeworld."

"Are you sure she's even taking us to Homeworld?" said Lapis. "I've flown from Homeworld to plenty of other planets and back too many times to count, and she isn't headed in that direction."

"Then, where could she be going?" asked Peridot?

"What, you expect me to know?" said Lapis. "I guess we'll find out when we get there."

"Right," said Peridot. "And _then_ we'll steal a ship."

Soon enough, the ship arrived at its destination: like Lapis predicted, they were not going to Homeworld. Rather, they arrived at a much larger ship, big enough to make Hessonite's look like a gnat in comparison. The ship landed at one of the larger vessel's numerous docking bays.

"Alright girls, this is our stop," Hessonite announced. "I hope you enjoy your home away from Homeworld!" She took a moment to laugh at her own wordplay.

"Well, this is...unexpected," said Peridot. "What is this place?"

"Oh, this old thing?" said Hessonite, having suddenly warped behind Peridot. The startled green Gem yelped, and jumped into Lapis' arms. "This is just a decommissioned mining ship we repurposed into a sort of sanctuary."

"A sanctuary for who?" asked Peridot.

Lapis set Peridot down. "Yeah, and who's 'we?'"

Hessonite chortled. "No need to worry, all will be answered in time. Now, follow me, let me show you around."

Both of them shrugged, and decided following her was their best option for now. The ship's door opened, and all three of them stepped out.

"Hey, this place looks sick!" said the Ruby who had accompanied them. She hopped out after them and ran up beside Hessonite. "So, what's this place for?"

"I was just about to explain that to your friends here," the orange Gem said. "Now, for those of you who don't know, I recently had a run-in with the Crystal Gems on Earth, to retrieve my Prism.

"Ooh," said the Ruby. "I didn't understand, like, three of those words, but that's pretty cool."

"Right, right, and Steven beat you," said Peridot. "So, who did you end up here?"

"I see, you'd rather have the abridged version," said Hessonite, slightly irritated. "To make a long story short, my defeat at the hands of the Crystal Gems made me realize I wasn't as perfect as I had believed. That was when I decided, rather than return to Homeworld, I would go on a journey of self-discovery. Do some soul-searching, that sort of thing."

"And what did you find?" Lapis asked.

"I found out that the Diamonds had lied to us about a lot of things, more than just my perfection," said Hessonite. "So, rather than continue following the orders of a group that doesn't care about us, I went rogue."

"Ah, I get it," said Peridot. "So you rebelled, like us?"

"'Like us?' I'm beginning to think you aren't the same Peridot who went to Earth with me," Hessonite said. Peridot glanced around worriedly. "But, no matter. And no, I didn't rebel, at least not openly. Rather than fight, we decided to take Gems who were downtrodden or oppressed under our wing. For example…"

Hessonite opened the bay doors into the main deck of the ship. Lapis and Peridot, and the Ruby to a lesser extent, couldn't believe it: inside were dozens of Gems of all different types. Many of them were those that Homeworld wouldn't accept in any capacity, like fusions or those that had been under- or overcooked.

"Wow," the Ruby said, taking in the sights. "So, it's like a sanctuary for off-colors."

"It isn't 'like' a sanctuary, it _is_ a sanctuary," explained Hessonite. "And you won't just find off-colors here. We accept all Gems, regardless of type of disposition, if they wish to be free from Homeworld's influence."

"You keep saying 'we,'" said Lapis. "Who else is running this place?"

"Hessonite, did you bring back _more_ runaways? Again?" a voice said. "I swear, at this rate we'll run out of room! I know this is a big ship, but please!"

"And that should answer your question!" said Hessonite, walking over to the Gem. She had a similar shape, gem, and hairstyle to Hessonite, but was bright pink and lavishly dressed. Her gemstone was on her stomach. "Girls, I'd like you to meet Pyrope, my sister-in-arms aboard this vessel."

"Yes, indeed, so lovely to meet you," she said quickly, implying that it wasn't. "Anyways, once Hessonite here told me that the Diamonds weren't to be trusted, I immediately leapt at her suggestion to start our own colony-I-I mean, sanctuary! After all, obviously _I_ was the best choice to lead, now that the Diamonds were out!"

"Incorrect," said a deadpan voice. This one came from yet another Garnet: this one dark green, with her gemstone on her head amongst her afro. Her lower half seemed to be entirely mechanical, and two large robotic arms accompanied her tiny real ones.

"And this is my other companion, Demantoid," Hessonite said. "Same story as with Pyrope, if you're wondering."

"Correct," said Demantoid. "Era-1 Gems such as the Diamonds spent all their time in needless frivolity, causing the ongoing resource crisis. As usual, it was a matter only an Era-2 Gem such as myself could fix."

"Oh, please!" said Pyrope. "It isn't _our_ fault you're too tiny! Besides, you just wanted to help us so you could be in charge of something for once!"

"Look who is talking!" said Pyrope. Both Garnets began literally butting heads. "At least I do not spend my days reaffirming how flawless I am!"

"Wh-That's exactly what you do with your constant praise for Era-2!" said Pyrope.

"Girls, girls, please! This ship is a place of peace and positivity!" said Hessonite, separating the two. "As you can see, these two are still a bit at each other's throats. But don't worry, I'm here to keep them in check! They call us the 'Prism Sisters!'" Hessonite pulled the two in for a group hug.

"Approximately no one calls us that," said Demantoid.

"Aheh...well, in any case, Pyrope, do you mind showing our new arrivals around?" said Hessonite. "Me and Demantoid need to handle this 'Skeletor' situation."

"Oh, yes, because I'd love nothing more than to do that," said Pyrope, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Wait, Skeletor!?" Peridot suddenly shouted, drawing the Garnet trio's attention. "You know about him? He's why we came to the planet in the first place!"

"Why, of course we know about him," Pyrope said. "He's been attacking Gem colonies all over the galaxy! Half of the Gems here were displaced because of him!" Lapis and Peridot shared looks of concern.

"But why did you go to Yellow Diamond Colony #17 in the first place?" Hessonite asked.

"Well, you see, our friends are sort of stranded on this old planet called Denebria," Peridot said. "Lapis is the only one who could fly, so we needed to get a ship to rescue them."

"If it's a ship you want, I can arrange for that as well!" said Hessonite. "Pyrope, can you arrange for someone to go and retrieve this pair's friends?" Pyrope only groaned, walking away with the Ruby following close behind. "Ah, Pyrope," Hessonite said. "She seems pretty cold and aloof, but she's a real sweetheart once you get to know her. Provided you don't waste her time. Or upstage her in any way. Or make her angry. Which is quite easy."

"So, that hopefully takes care of that," said Lapis.

"I hope so," Peridot replied. "Heh, won't they be surprised when they get rescued by a ship with somebody they didn't even expect!"

"There is still the matter of ending Skeletor's reign of terror," said Demantoid. "As you two seem to be at the center of it, I surmise your input could be quite useful."

"I agree," Hessonite said. "Now, why don't you tell us about how you ended up in this mess?"

"Sure thing," Peridot said. "But it's kind of a long story…"


	7. The Aftermath

Chapter Seven: The Aftermath

* * *

Soon enough, Adora, Glimmer, Bow, and the Crystal Gems had been taken back to Brightmoon. The other princesses (and Sea Hawk) had gone back to their respective kingdoms, accompanied by several Brightmoon guards each. On the way, they had explained both who their new allies from Earth were, as well what had happened regarding the Staff of Keldor.

"So, to recap:" said Netossa. "The Horde found a powerful First Ones artifact, they used it to open a wormhole out of Despondos, where they took over a small beachside town until you all fought them off, which is when they followed you to another planet where you planned to give Keldor back his staff, but Keldor turned out to be Skeletor, who is now wreaking havoc throughout the universe, including Etheria?"

"Yep, that about sums it up," said Bow. "Except you forgot the part where they made a machine that let them control Gems."

"Man, it really _has_ been a crazy week," she said, sighing.

"It's been one for us, too," said Spinnerella. "Queen Angella had been searching for you all for days. And once Skeletor showed up, she hardly let any of us sleep!"

Glimmer shook her head. "I feel awful about this," she said. "I'm sorry we made you all worry so much."

"It wasn't your fault," Angella assured her. "If you had run off of your own accord-again, might I add-I would be angry, but this was out of your control. Of all of ours."

"Yes," said Netossa. "Now the only one we need to worry about is Skeletor."

"I had been wondering about that," said Bow. "How did he get here in the first place?"

"We aren't entirely sure," said Angella. "Exactly two days ago, a report came in from a village on the edge of the Crimson Waste. It said they had been attacked by a walking corpse wielding powerful magic. We were initially skeptical...but when our scouts found the village destroyed, its inhabitants drained of life, it soon became apparent it was true."

Castaspella nodded solemnly. "Whoever-_what_ever-this Skeletor is, it's unlike anything we've faced before. Morale around here is already low, and I don't want to contribute to that, but...I'm not sure we can beat him."

"What are you talking about?" said Glimmer. "Back when you guys rescued us, you totally fought him to a standstill!"

"All we did was irritate him," said Angella. "If Skeletor was fighting at full power, he would have overwhelmed us instantly. I fear we do not have the means to fight back, even with the She-Ra on our side."

"Speaking of which, where's Adora?" asked Bow.

"Oh, she's showing the Gems around the castle," Glimmer said.

* * *

"And this is the Moonstone room!" Adora exclaimed, arms outstretched. "This is where Glimmer is able to recharge her powers from."

"Huh," Bismuth said. "Y'know, I knew a Moonstone once. Nice enough Gem. Never understood a word she said, though."

Pearl walked closer to examine the Moonstone. "If what the Sword of Protection told us is true, and Gems were made by the First Ones...do you think Gems are just smaller, autonomous Runestones?"

"When you put it that way, it sure seems likely," Garnet said. "It wasn't really something I thought of until now. Gemkind never really had a beginning or an end-we just _were_."

"So, if princesses need a Runestone to use their magic," said Connie, "do you have one?"

"Sort of." Adora drew her sword, tapping the small blue stone in the hilt. "Mine's portable. It's how I turn into She-Ra. Of course, it didn't always work at first…"

Steven lifted his shirt to take a look at his gemstone. A Runestone of his own. "I know how you feel," he said. "When I first started going on adventures, it seemed like I could never get my powers to do what I wanted."

"Really?" said Adora. "From what everyone said, you were always a great hero from the start!"

"Uh...who told you that?" Steven asked.

"Those other Gem friends of yours," Adora explained. "The ones who came here with...what was his name? Lars?"

"Well, I definitely wasn't always like I am now," Steven said. "And I have a better grasp on my powers now, but there's still so much I don't know who I am. Like, why did my mom have me? What am I supposed to do?"

"You...you don't know either?" said Adora quietly.

"Hmm?"

"It's nothing," said Adora. "Anyway, should we continue on with the tour?"

"Eh, if it's all the same to you, could you show us where we're supposed to sleep?" said Amethyst. "It's been a real hectic week for us."

"But, Gems don't need sleep," said Connie.

"Like I said, hectic week," said Amethyst. "We don't need _sleep_, but we can still get tired."

* * *

The Rebellion were not the only ones who were aware of Skeletor's presence. After this powerfully magical threat had arrived on the planet, Hordak was quick to learn all he could about it. And when it became apparent that this being was in possession of the Staff of Keldor, he immediately sent a team to rescue Entrapta. This is why the trio of cadets showed up when they did.

Although Hordak did not show it when Entrapta arrived safely back at the Fright Zone, it was clear to everyone that he was overjoyed to have her back. Catra, however, he barely acknowledged. Not even to enforce his policy of banishment. She later retreated back to her quarters without a word, where Scorpia followed.

"Catra! Hey, wait!" she shouted after her. "Look, I know this hasn't been the best month or so for you, but…" As Scorpia entered the room, rather than finding Catra moping as she had expected, the feline woman was instead drawing up plans for something-what, she wasn't yet sure. "Uh, what's all this for?"

"Skeletor," Catra said. "We know he's out there, and we know he's not on our side. We've seen first-hand what he's capable of-we need to take him out as soon as possible."

Scorpia examined the table in front of her: it seemed Catra had drawn out a map of Etheria, with various other markings placed on it. "So, this is...what, exactly?"

"These points represent everywhere Skeletor's been sighted," Catra explained. "And the shaded areas are everywhere his magic has influenced. All of this information I got from Hordak's databanks."

"Now, hold on a minute," said Scorpia. "If Hordak knows all this stuff already, how come you're the one working on a plan?"

"If Hordak has proven anything lately, it's that he's unfit to lead the Horde," Catra said bitterly. "If the leader is incompetent, so are all of his subjects. So from now on, if we want anything to get done around here, we're doing it ourselves, behind Hordak's back."

"Doing what behind Hordak's back?" Entrapta, with absolutely no indication she had been in the room previously, suddenly made her presence known, startling the other two.

"Entrapta!?" shouted Catra. "What are you doing in here? How much of that did you hear? I thought you were with Hordak!"

"Yes, checking up on you, only the last bit, and see previous response," said Entrapta. "Hordak didn't really have anything to work on, so after we talked a bit, I was making sure you two were doing okay." Her attention turned to the map on the table. "Ooh, what's this? Is this what you didn't want Hordak to know about? He already has this data, so there's really no reason to-"

"Entrapta, please," said Catra, momentarily quieting her. "Now look: Hordak always wants us to do things _his_ way. And how did his way turn out?"

"With us stuck on an alien planet, and an evil necromancer roaming the galaxy," said Scorpia.

Catra nodded. "Exactly. So, instead of letting him ruin this yet again, we're going to take Skeletor down ourselves."

"Just the three of us?" said Entrapta. "Mmm, I dunno, Catra, that feels pretty risky. You saw what he's capable of, right?"

"I did," Catra said. "And now that I have, we know what to expect. Nobody's invulnerable. Skeletor may be stronger, so we need to be smarter."

"Okay, so I can understand why you want to keep Hordak out of this," said Entrapta. "I don't agree with it, but I'll go along with it, for you. But shouldn't we at least get some help?"

"You two are the only ones I can trust down here anymore," Catra said. "Anyone we go to could leak this whole thing to Hordak, and you know how he feels about insubordination."

"I don't think that's what she meant," said Scorpia.

"You're not serious," Catra said. "You can't seriously be suggesting we get help from the princesses!"

"Well...we are a bit short on manpower," Scorpia said. "Or girl-power, rather. Anyway, come on! What's the worst that could happen?"

"...Do I even need to explain that to you?" Catra said.


	8. Unstoppable Force

Chapter Eight: Unstoppable Force

* * *

Skeletor did more than simply draw his power from living things. When he drained them dry, it wasn't just their life energy he was sapping-it was their very death that empowered him. The last fleeting moments a living creature experienced, the last terrified thoughts that ran through their heads as their life was taken...this is what he fed on, what made him so unstoppable. And if Etheria was anything, it was full of life.

What had once been a regular forest, nowhere near as mysterious or dangerous as the Whispering Woods, but nearly as beautiful, had been reduced to a desolate wasteland by the undead monstrosity. Plants, animals, and it seemed the very land itself had been drained dry by his hand. From the tallest trees to the smallest bugs, all was soon silent.

Skeletor examined his handiwork, brimming with macabre satisfaction at his latest cataclysm. Soon enough, the rest of Etheria would look just like this. Where life existed, there would be only death. And where there was death...he reigned supreme. Skeletor brought his staff down to the ground, uttering only one word: "Rise."

The results of his massacre began to take their true shape. The drained husks of his victims began to glow with a purple energy as they rose up from the dirt. Zombies, skeletons, mummies-whatever one called them, Skeletor added more to his ever-growing army of the undead.

Strolling forward to examine his new thralls, the deathly conqueror noticed one creature hadn't risen. Too much of its body had rotted away. Skeletor reached down and picked up its skull-small and horned, most likely that of a small mammal or reptile. He placed the skull over the crystal on his staff, a trophy of his latest conquest. Light shone from the eye sockets. "Go," Skeletor commanded. His undead thralls ran off into the night, thinking only of spreading death and destruction in their master's name.

* * *

Etheria wasn't the only planet suffering from Skeletor's rampage. As Peridot and Lapis could attest to, alongside their newfound allies, Skeletor had also spread his wrath to many Gem territories as well. Thankfully, as Pyrope had just found out, Denebria was not one of them. Not recently, in any case.

As Pyrope walked through the halls of the ship, a tiny guest followed close behind. "So, how did the three of you meet?" asked the Ruby.

"Because we were all assigned Prisms," said the pink Garnet, clearly fatigued of the conversation. "And will you please stop following me?"

"But I don't have anywhere else to go!" the Ruby said. "You never showed me around the ship like you said you would!"

Pyrope grumbled, having given in to this unwanted companion. She reached the command bridge, both Gems entering. "Have either of you seen those two new arrivals I was supposed to send a ship to Denebria for?" She was surprised to see that on the bridge were not only Hessonite and Demantoid, but Lapis and Peridot as well. "What? Why are these civilians on the bridge?"

"These civilians happen to have first-hand contact with Skeletor, something that could prove invaluable," said Demantoid. "Besides, you brought one with you as well." She pointed out the Ruby at Pyrope's feet.

"That's different!" said Pyrope. "She followed me in here, I didn't _ask_ her to follow me!"

"Girls, girls, please," said Hessonite. "Now, Pyrope, what was the result of the expedition?"

"I sent a ship to search Denebria for survivors, Gem or organic," Pyrope said. "They scanned the entire planet, and didn't find a single thing. Nothing but barren wastelands and defunct injectors as far as the eye can see."

"But that's impossible!" said Peridot. "Are you sure they checked the entire planet?"

"The whole thing," Pyrope repeated.

"They have to have missed something," said Lapis. "Maybe _you_ were just too lazy to look for them!"

"As likely as the possibility of Pyrope being lazy is, it is unlikely she did not search the whole planet," said Demantoid. "Our scanners can detect a single Gem on a planet in a matter of minutes. That is how we have been locating survivors. If there were no Gems detected on Denebria, then there are no longer any Gems on Denebria."

Hessonite noticed the pair's distress, and tried to comfort them. "No need to worry. I'm sure they just found another way off the planet, is all. Besides, if Steven is with them, I'm quite certain they'll be fine!"

Peridot nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. Still, it would be nice to know where they went."

"And why they left without telling us," added Lapis.

"I'm sure we'll run into them soon enough," said Hessonite. "In the meantime, I've just received word that Skeletor's forces are attacking a nearby colony."

"'Forces?'" said Peridot. "I thought he was working by himself. Now he has friends?"

"Hardly," Pyrope said. "You see, when Skeletor came to attack our colonies, he didn't come alone. He brought with him hordes of undead organics under his control. Even without their maker's presence, these beasts continue to tear through Gem forces."

"Thanks, in part, to these," said Hessonite. With the push of a button, a holographic image of a planet appeared above the table in the center of the room; assumably, the colony that was currently being attacked. Next to it hung a glowing purple orb about one-sixth the planet's size. "We aren't sure where Skeletor is at the moment, but his will is still being enforced by these creations."

"Units are not to scale," confirmed Demantoid.

"Right," said Hessonite. "These 'necro-orbs,' or 'necrorbs,' are only a few meters in diameter, but are no less dangerous."

"That is an objectively bad name," said Demantoid. "Why did you not run this by me first?"

"I don't need your approval for everything I do!" Hessonite said indignantly. "Anyways, these orbs give Skeletor a continuous supply of minions by resurrecting organics as undead monsters, as well as teleporting them in from other planets if none are readily available."

"So, are we going in to stop them?" said Lapis.

"Yes," said Hessonite. "This colony is Skeletor's last known location before he disappeared, meaning it's our best bet for tracking him down. Not only that, but it has not been completed yet, so there are quite a few monsters running around."

"Here is our plan," Demantoid said. "Step one: get to the planet's surface under Homeworld's radar. Avoid contact with Homeworld forces, and only engage with Skeletor's abominations if necessary. Step two: find and destroy the necro-sphere to disable his armies. We believe it to be located somewhere within a research facility. Step three: find Skeletor, and destroy him if possible."

"Necro-sphere," Hessonite muttered. "I like that. From now on, that's their official name. Now then, would you two like to join us?" she asked Lapis and Peridot. "We could really use your help!"

"Not like we're doing anything else," said Lapis. "I'd be glad to help."

"Yeah, me too!" said Peridot. "Plus, maybe this will give us a lead on where Steven and the others went to!"

"Then it's settled!" shouted Hessonite. "Come, we fly!"

The Ruby tugged on Pyrope's dress. "Can I come, too?"

* * *

Down on the soon-to-be colony's surface, battle raged. Zombified monsters appeared from out of nowhere, attacking the Gems out of the blue. Homeworld sent armies to fight back, but they were currently locked in a stalemate. Hessonite and the others were not interested in joining their fight, however, merely in stopping it. All six Gems flew in on a shuttle far away from the frontlines. Their destination was a research facility, abandoned once Skeletor's armies arrived.

Hessonite stepped out first, followed by the others. "Stay alert," she warned. "The fighting's not near us, but keep your eyes open for stragglers."

"No Gems are nearby," reported Demantoid.

"So, what exactly was the research here on?" asked Peridot.

"I haven't the foggiest idea," said Pyrope. She held her Ruby companion in her arms. "Well, that's not entirely true. I know the research was one something called the 'First Ones,' but as to what they are, I don't know."

Peridot stopped. "Did you say 'First Ones?'"

"I did," Pyrope said. "Have you heard of them?"

"Yeah, they're-" Before she could explain, Peridot was cut off by a growling sound coming from within the research center.

"Uh, Demantoid?" said Lapis. "Your scanner only finds Gems, doesn't it?"

"Indeed," said the green Garnet.

Out from the shadows crawled numerous rotting monsters of all shapes and sizes. Big and small, bulky and lithe, but one thing was shared, besides their decomposition: they were all focusing on the newcomers.

Hessonite summoned her sword. "Everyone, get ready!"


	9. The Zombie Apocalypse Begins

Chapter Nine: The Zombie Apocalypse Begins

* * *

It wasn't long before Skeletor's influence had been spread all throughout Etheria. While the man himself hadn't been sighted for a while, the locals began to notice that certain things were...off. For one thing, crops all throughout the kingdoms began to come out much less healthy than before: they weren't wilting outright, but what was thought to be an excellent growing season was turning out to be quite the opposite. Wild animals were noticeable more skittish than usual, and domestic animals were becoming more wild and aggressive. Disease plagued the kingdoms, spreading through an unknown means.

But worst of all, even though Skeletor had disappeared, his influence was still felt. Armies of the dead had risen, laying siege to any civilization they came across. Travel among kingdoms was now limited to heavily-armed groups, and severely regulated at that-nobody wanted to run into a roving pack of the dead alone. Within a matter of days, Skeletor had become a notorious force of devastation, arguably more feared than even the Horde. It had gotten to the point that many Etherians refused to utter his name, for fear he would hear them.

One of the towns under attack from the undead was a small village called Thrush, not far from Brightmoon. Queen Angella had sent some guards to defend it, but after hearing nothing back for some time, decided (with some coaxing from Glimmer) that She-Ra was her best option. And so, Adora, Glimmer, and Bow set out to investigate Thrush, and fight off any attackers if necessary.

"So, Thrush," said Adora. "I've never seen it on any maps before, in Brightmoon _or_ the Fright Zone. How come?"

"It's a pretty small town," Glimmer said. "There's not much there, but they and Brightmoon are pretty close, because, well, they're so close."

"That's where one of my dads is originally from," Bow said. "The two of them actually met there before they moved out into the Whispering Woods."

"So we've got a lot on our hands if they really are under attack," said Glimmer. "They're so small, they don't even have any soldiers there. The ones Mom sent are all they've got."

"Then we'd better get a move on!" Adora said.

The trio carried onwards on the path to the village. Secretly, all of them assumed the worst, what with nobody hearing any report back from them. Plus, they were all too familiar with Skeletor and his machinations…

It wasn't long before they heard the screaming. The sounds of battle carried over a hill, which they hurried over as soon as they heard it. The scene was chilling: walking corpses rushed at the overwhelmed soldiers from all angles the terrified villagers trapped inside the buildings. The undead hordes were dangerously close to breaking through the defenses.

"Mom was right, they're in trouble!" said Glimmer. "Let's get down there!"

"Way ahead of you," said Adora. "For the honor of Grayskull!"

Down at the village, the guards were in way over their heads. The first assault had been merely a scouting party, one of only several dead, that the locals themselves had been able to fend off. This second wave, though, was a full-on siege. Dozens of the dead rushed towards the village-individually weak, though their strength in numbers soon brought the defenders to their knees. It was not only humans and humanoids that had been raised. Undead animals sieged the town as well, acting as attack animals to the other ones.

One of the guards was surrounded by newly-felled bodies, but she was becoming fatigued. The monsters were coming faster and faster, and her spear could only dispatch them so fast. She turned to one of her fellows. "Quickly! We need to evacuate the civilians!"

Her partner, equally exhausted, shouted back. "We're surrounded, there's nowhere to take them!"

This was it...seventeen years of loyal service to her majesty, and she would be eaten but the undead. The first guard steeled herself, preparing to meet a valiant end as one of the horrible beasts charged at her. She lifted her spear forwards and...the risen fiend fell suddenly to the dirt, an arrow protruding from its rotting skull.

"What?" The guard looked around to where the projectile had come from, and saw a trio of warriors charging down the hillside to their aid.

"Look! She-Ra is here!" another guard shouted. The villagers, initially despairing at their soon-to-be demise, were now filled with hope once again. They began cheering for their rescuers.

Another handful of corpses ran towards them, only for every last one to be cleaved in half by the Sword of Protection. Glimmer teleported towards the guard, blasting another dead with a glitter beam. "We'll handle them," she said. "Get to Brightmoon and tell them to send backup and supplies."

"Right away, Princess Glimmer!" said the grateful guard. She hurried back to the kingdom while the Best Friend Squad rallied the other soldiers for one last push.

Bow nocked an arrow. "Almost there, everyone just hold tight!" He let the arrow fly, which landed in the grass in the middle of an advancing group of zombies. The arrow then exploded, dispatching them all.

Adora sliced through the undead in droves. "Heh, good thing they aren't as tough as their boss!" she quipped.

"Adora, focus!" Glimmer said. "We're almost there!"

Adora turned to see one of the risen dead staring at her from a few meters away. As soon as she made contact with its cold, dead eyes, the corpse silently sprinted towards her. She-Ra grabbed the monster before it could touch her, lifting it above her head and slamming it back into the ground. As it was still moving, she drove her sword into the ground and clean through it. The purple pinpricks of light in its eyes faded to nothing.

Though she couldn't eliminate them as fast as Adora or Bow could, Glimmer could use her powers to blind the dead, and therefore open them up to the soldiers' spears. She was too fast for them to catch, teleporting around faster than the eye could see. "Oh, man, I can't _tell_ you how good it feels to have my powers back!" she said.

The battle only lasted several more minutes. While not what one would call 'easy,' the Best Friend Squad made short work of their foes far faster than their latest fights, especially those against Skeletor himself. Not long after, backup arrived from Brightmoon, along with supplies and reinforcements.

* * *

"Wish I could have been there to see this!" said Amethyst after having been told of the battle. "I've been itching for a fight we could actually _win_. It's been a while since we've had one of those…"

"I just can't believe we're dealing with zombies!" Connie exclaimed. "Wait, so, we won't turn if we get bitten, right?"

"Uh…'zombies?'" said Adora. "You have a name for these things?"

"Of course," said Steven. "Dead bodies that rise from their graves because of a plague or a curse, hungering for brains! They're really popular in movies."

Adora turned to Pearl. "They weren't real," said the Gem. "At least, up until now."

"I guess Lars could technically be called a zombie," said Steven. "Lion, too. Probably not the most respectful term for them, though…"

Bow returned from checking up on the townsfolk. "Everyone here is accounted for, if a little shaken up," he reported. "And in answer to your question, I don't think their bites turn you into one of them. Some of the villagers got bitten, but as long as you clean it out, it should be fine."

"Hmm, yes, that makes sense," said Connie. "These are magical zombies, after all. We'll need to apply different rules to defeat them."

"I still can't believe you guys have a word for these things!" said Glimmer. "We've just been calling them the walking dead, or whatever."

The General of Brightmoon's forces approached the group. "Princess Glimmer, my scouts have surveyed the surrounding area. No more of the undead have been spotted nearby."

"Okay," Glimmer said. "Still, we should stay here a bit longer, just to make sure we're in the clear."

The General raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure your mother would approve of that?"

"She sent us here to protect Thrush, didn't she?" said Glimmer. "That's what we'd be doing!"

While skeptical, the General agreed with her logic. The eight of them (as Bismuth had stayed back at the castle) would stand guard until the next morning.

* * *

"Adora? You doing okay?" asked Glimmer. "You don't look too good…"

Sundown had come and went, and the group had been keeping watch well into the night. All of them were tired, but Adora in particular could barely keep her eyes open. "Whaddya mean?" she said groggily. "'M fine…"

"It doesn't look that way," observed Garnet. "Why don't you get some rest?"

"But I…"

"Adora, don't worry about it," Bow said. "We'll pick up the slack while you're gone. Besides, if more...what were they called again?"

"Zombies," Connie said.

"..._zombies_ show up, you'll fight better if you're well-slept."

"That's a fact!" said Steven. "And the Gems don't need to sleep, so it's not like they'll be slacking. Don't worry, I'll be watching them to make sure!" he added jokingly.

"Okay, I guess," said Adora. "Good luck out here." With that, she headed into a tent to bed down for the night.

"Sleep well, we'll see you in the morning, hopefully!" said Steven.

Adora slept like a log as soon as she hit the mattress. But after an hour or two had passed, she awoke to the unmistakable sound of someone entering her tent.

She turned over to get a better look at who it was. She wasn't worried, as the others were standing guard, so it couldn't have been someone she didn't know. She looked up to see a figure standing over her, its face obscured by darkness and grogginess. "Hello there!" it said.

Adora rubbed her eyes. "Glimmer, can't this wait until-wait...Entrapta!?"


	10. Research Room

Chapter Ten: Research Room

* * *

The hordes of the dead attacked. Hessonite dashed around in near-light-speed bursts, slicing through the undead with each one. Demantoid hurled energy balls at the invaders. Pyrope cut through their attackers with razor-sharp gusts of wind from her fan. Even the Ruby got in on the fight, having summoned a warhammer almost as big as she was!

Peridot joined the fray as well, using her newfound limb enhancers to her advantage. She fired shots of plasma at the undead fiends, as well as using her magnetic powers to hurl shards of metal like flechettes. Though there were no large bodies of water nearby, Lapis was far from helpless: she used her water wings, transformed into icy blades, to cut down any zombies that came too close.

"Tell me, why did you feel it necessary not to bring our prisms?" asked Demantoid, smashing a corpse that came too close with her enhanced arm.

"This was supposed to be a stealth mission!" Hessonite said. She dispatched an incoming zombie behind her without a glance. "Plus, I didn't think we would need them! The fighting isn't even near here!"

"Hate to tell you this, but the fighting's right here!" said Peridot. While she was busy blasting away, one of the zombies pounced from behind, pinning her to the ground. She struggled to push it off, its teeth chomping inches from her face. "Get offa me, you clodding freak! Lapis, help!"

"Hang on, Peridot!" cried Lapis. In a flash, she flew over to her fallen friend, doing a twirl in midair upon reaching her, successfully slicing the undead in half. "There. You good?"

Peridot got to her feet. "Never better. Now, whaddya say we finish these pebbles off?"

Lapis nodded. "Let's do it!"

"Yeah!" yelled Ruby, lifting her hammer above her head. "Die, zombies, die!"

All six Gems fought with all their might. As it was not a full horde of the undead, only a small scouting party, the battle did not last much longer. Soon enough, the ground around them was littered with twice-dead organics.

"Now _that_ was a battle to be remembered!" said Hessonite. "Excellent work, girls."

"Of course it was!" said Pyrope.

"Indeed," said Demantoid at the same time.

Peridot nudged one of the zombies with her boot to make sure it was really dead. "Remind me, what were we looking for again?"

"The necro-sphere," Demantoid said. "Once we destroy it, all of the reanimated organics on this planet will be returned to their natural state. That is to say, they will be dead once again."

"And it can't be too far," said Hessonite. "Let's stick together. There's no telling how many more of these monsters are down here…"

The group set off deeper into the research facility. Power seemed to have been cut, meaning it got darker and darker as they descended. They all activated their gem-lights, including Lapis, who couldn't see much with it. Much to her irritation.

"Pyrope? I'm scared," said Ruby, clinging close to the pink Garnet's legs. "It's too dark to see. What if those zombies ambush us?"

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" said Pyrope, clearly annoyed. "Carry you?" Given the Ruby's lack of change in facial expression as she stared up at her, she clearly expected as much. Pyrope groaned. "Okay, fine," she said, picking up the red Gem.

"Hold on a moment," said Peridot, stopping the group. "Something's here…" She walked over to investigate a room marked with Gem glyph. "It says…'artifact room'. Should we investigate?"

"No reason not to," said Lapis. The Garnets agreed, and everyone entered the room. The entire place seemed to have been ransacked-more so than the rest of the facility, at least. Glass cylinders, most likely to have contained the artifacts in question, had been smashed to pieces.

"Wow...what happened here?" asked Pyrope.

"It would appear that the area has been destroyed," said Demantoid. "Most li-"

"Yes, no kidding!" interrupted Pyrope.

"_Most likely_, Skeletor's armies were drawn here for one reason or another," Demantoid forcefully continued. "As to what that reason is, we have yet to find."

"Demantoid, do you think you could get the power back on?" asked Hessonite. "Maybe we can shed some light as to the importance of this room." Demantoid nodded, walking off after scanning the nearby area with a light from her eyepiece.

"The biggest question I have is why was Homeworld performing research into the First Ones?" Peridot asked. "More specifically, how do they know about the First Ones?"

"Ah, that's right, you've heard of these 'First Ones' before," said Hessonite. "Would you mind filling us in on what exactly they are?"

"Well, basically, it goes something like this," Lapis said. "There's this other dimension called 'Despondos.' And in this other dimension, there's a planet called 'Etheria.' Long story short, the First Ones colonized it, and now the present-day Etherians are allied with the Crystal Gems to fight against the Horde, who want to take it over."

"What? The Horde?" said Pyrope. "But that's impossible! The Horde was wiped out several years ago! Their leader was destroyed! How is it possible that they survived?"

"One of them somehow managed to escape to Etheria," said Peridot. "And by the way, he's not happy about Homeworld killing his boss. I think he wants to use Etheria's power to get revenge."

"Hmmph! I would like to see him try!" said Pyrope.

At that moment, the lights suddenly burst to life. "Ah, looks like Demantoid got the power running again," said Hessonite.

"Indeed," Pyrope said. "We _do_ make a good team, don't we?"

"What do you mean? You didn't do anything," Hessonite said.

"Exactly what I meant," Pyrope continued. "You're the brawn, she's the brains, and I'm the...uh...the other one."

"And I'm the cute one!" Ruby cried.

"The power has been restored," said Demantoid, returning. "Shall I begin accessing the files?" With a nod from Hessonite, the green Garnet stepped over to the console and pulled up several documents relating to First Ones research.

Peridot read several of them. "'Heart of Etheria?' 'Great Computers?' 'The Lock?' Man, these guys sure were busy!"

"Yes, but why?" said Hessonite. "Why would Gems be so interested in the First Ones? And if they are, why have I never heard of them?"

"Oh, right, there's something else I forgot to mention," said Peridot. "You see...the First Ones? They're kinda the...original creators of Gems."

Everyone stopped and stared for a moment. Eventually, Pyrope broke the silence. "Don't be ridiculous! Everyone knows that the Diamonds created Gemkind!"

"But who made the Diamonds?" asked Lapis.

"Well, obviously…" Pyrope racked her mind for an answer. "I-I'm not sure. I suppose I always assumed they just...existed."

"How exactly do you know this?" asked Hessonite.

"Well, apparently, the First Ones' home planet was called 'Eternia,'" Peridot said. "And when I asked a First Ones artifact to locate Eternia, it showed the exact coordinates for Homeworld."

"That's probably why Skeletor was so interested in this artifact room," said Lapis. "He was a First One himself. He was probably looking for a way to make himself more powerful."

"Perhaps we can find out for ourselves," said Demantoid. "There is security footage of Skeletor's initial incursion."

"Well then, don't keep us waiting!" said Pyrope. "Play it!" Demantoid did so.

The video played depicted the moment Skeletor's forces broke through the initial defenses. Undead beasts swarmed the few Gems guarding the facility, reducing them all to their gemstones. Most startling, however, was when Skeletor himself strolled into view.

"Skeletor...he was here?" said Pyrope, worried.

"It would seem so," said Demantoid.

"Spread out! Find the Lock!" Skeletor commanded. "We must find it before Homeworld discovers how to use it against me!"

Demantoid paused the video. "And we have our answer."

"So, Skeletor wanted to find something called 'the Lock.' because he was worried that Homeworld would use it against him," said Peridot. She looked around at the state of the room they were in. "I guess he found it."

"Demantoid, search the database for any mentions of this 'the Lock,'" Hessonite commanded. "Meanwhile, let us look for any artifacts left over. Skeletor may have taken the Lock, but maybe we can find the next best thing."

"I dunno, this place looks pretty empty," said Ruby. "Wait a minute...if the First Ones made the Gems, doesn't that mean _we're_ artifacts, too?"

"Alright, that's enough waxing philosophical out of you!" said Pyrope, placing Ruby on the ground. "Now earn your keep and help us look!"

"So, Hessonite...what exactly are we looking for?" said Lapis.

"To be honest, I don't truly know," Hessonite said. "Anything that can give us an edge on Skeletor."

"I would not count on it," said Demantoid. "These records show that every First Ones artifact contained in this room has been destroyed."

Hessonite sighed, disappointed. "Every one, you say?"

"Every one," repeated Demantoid. "However, records are saying that the Lock is still secured. It appeared to be hidden in a place where Skeletor could not locate it."

"So then, it's still here!" said Pyrope. "That's great news! So...where is it?"

"It's exact location is not stated," said Demantoid, but it is apparently nearby something referred to as 'Project: Drawbridge,' located not far from here."

"Uh, okay," said Peridot. "What's Project: Drawbridge?"

"Here are some notes left by the project's overseer," said Demantoid. "Not content with simply hiding on another planet, the First Ones have hidden their power in another dimension. Project: Drawbridge will allow us to obtain that power ourselves. It will allow us to access Etheria."

It...it's a portal," said Peridot. "A portal to Etheria."


	11. Enemies of my Enemy

Chapter Eleven: Enemies of my Enemy

* * *

Adora stumbled back, rushing for her sword. Entrapta did nothing to stop her, as the girl picked up her blade and pointed it at the intruder. "What are you doing here? What do you want?"

"Oh, that's simple: I want-no, I need your help. _We_ need your help," Entrapta said. She showed no fear, not even any wariness or apprehension, towards Adora. "And I feel like you could use ours, too."

Adora lowered her guard slightly, but kept the Sword of Protection firmly in hand. "Now, hang on-you sneak into my tent in the middle of the night just after we've been attacked by shambling corpses, inches away from my face, to ask me for help?"

Entrapta nodded. "Well, I wouldn't call them 'shambling,' but yeah, basically. The way I see it, Skeletor's too powerful for either of us to beat on our own. We'll have to team up if we wanna fight him!"

Adora sighed, rubbed her eyes, and stood up. "Something tells me neither Catra or Hordak sent you here."

"Catra said Hordak wouldn't be too keen on working with the Princess Alliance, so we came here on our own, just the three of us."

"Three?" said Adora.

"Oh, yeah, Catra and Scorpia are here, too!" she said. Adora's eyes widedned at the revelation that Catra was present. "I came in first because I figured I'd have the best luck talking to you. Did it work?"

Whether or not it worked would have to wait, as that very moment Glimmer entered the tent, having heard the noise. "Adora, is something wro-Entrapta!?" Glimmer instantly took on a fighting stance, prepared to do battle against this Horde intruder.

Entrapta held up her hands. "Now, wait a minute! I'm not here to fight, I'm here to talk about a truce! Remember what we were talking about earlier, back on the ship? About teaming up?"

"To be fair, we _did_ talk about a truce," said Adora.

Glimmer's eyes narrowed as she put away her sparkling fists. She was skeptical, but willing to give Entrapta the benefit of the doubt. "Okay, _Entrapta_...tell me, how do we know this isn't a ploy by the Horde to get us to lower our defenses?"

"If it was, we would have captured you in your sleep," Entrapta said. "But we didn't. Catra and Scorpia are waiting for my signal until they can come out."

"What!? Catra's here!?" shouted Glimmer.

"That's what _I_ thought!" said Adora.

"So, is that a yes?" asked Entrapta.

Once again, her question went unanswered as another person walked into the tent. This time it was Steven. "Hey, is everything okay in here? I thought I heard-Entrapta!?"

"Are we doing this again?" Entrapta said, standing up. "Look, I'm not here because of the Horde. Actually, I might be here in spite of the Horde. But either way, you guys aren't the only ones to have been attacked by Skeletor. He's going after Horde territories, too. Nothing we've done has been able to even put a dent in him, and his undead monster things just keep coming! But I found some information that I think could be helpful, if we work together."

Glimmer pulled both Adora and Steven together into a huddle. "Okay, look: Normally I'd be hesitant to trust someone from the Horde, but she makes a good point. I don't think we'll be able to defeat Skeletor on our own."

Adora nodded. "Besides, it's Entrapta. Coming from anyone else, I'd think it was a trap, but Entrapta isn't the type to lie. I say we go for it."

"And this could be a good time for them to see things the way we see them!" added Steven. "If things work out, maybe they'll even join you guys permanently!"

"Okay then," said Glimmer. The huddle broke, and all three turned back to Entrapta. "We've agreed. We accept your offer for a truce. Now, uh, what did you have in mind, exactly?"

"You'll see!" said Entrapta. "Should I go get Catra and Scorpia?"

"I think it'd be best if we went to them," Adora said. "We may be willing to trust you guys-for now-but some of the locals might not be so quick to accept."

"I'll go get the Gems," said Steven.

* * *

"I still don't understand it. We were all on guard. How did you manage to get past us?" asked Pearl.

"Oh, I just snuck by while you weren't looking!" answered Entrapta.

"I find it difficult to believe you just 'snuck by' all five of us!" Pearl continued.

Entrapta shrugged. "I don't know how I did it, I just did it. Oh, here we are!"

Upon meeting up, the nine of them had strolled out into the forest, where the rest of Entrapta's crew were waiting. Both Catra and Scorpia were hidden just beyond the forest's edge, waiting for Entrapta's signal to come out. Rather than receive it, Entrapta had brought everyone to them.

"Hey, Adora," Catra said.

"Catra…" Adora said. "Surprised to see you taking someone else's advice for once."

"Not like I had any choice," she said. "Skeletor's too tough to take on alone. We needed help."

"Entrapta must have done some serious arguing to convince you to go along with her plan," Adora said.

"Oh, no, this whole thing was Catra's idea," said Scorpia. "If anything, _she_ had to convince _Entrapta_ to go along!"

"Really?" said Adora, sounding genuinely shocked. "Well, look at you, playing nice with others!"

"Again, not like I had a choice," said Catra. "And I never said I'd play _nice_…"

"Soooo...about that plan," said Steven, trying to break the tension. "Entrapta here said she has a way to beat Skeletor."

"Yeah, let's hear it!" said Connie.

Entrapta rubbed the back of her head. "Well, I wouldn't call it a _plan_, at least not yet. But it is a vague idea of something we could try…"

"Better than nothin', which is what we were workin' with before," said Amethyst. "Lay it on us."

"Okay, well…" Entrapta began. "Once we got back to the Fright Zone, I looked deeper into my research regarding Keldor. Obviously, he's nowhere near as heroic as the writings would have you believe, but there are some similarities. This, combined with what I know about the Staff of Keldor, leads me to believe that the only way to kill Skeletor, for good this time, is to destroy that staff."

"Of course!" said Connie. "Because that's where his soul is! Once we destroy it, he'll have no way to interact with the world of the living anymore!"

"Actually, it's not that simple," said Entrapta. "You see, it's more akin to storing a complete backup of his consciousness within the staff, which he is able to download back into his body-" Upon realizing that everyone was staring at her, Entrapta stopped herself. "...Yes, it's his soul. But destroying it won't be easy. The Staff of Keldor is an extremely powerful First Ones artifact, probably the most powerful one I've seen yet. The trouble is, we'll need one of equal or greater power to destroy it."

"Okay, that's a start," said Bow. "I'm sure we can find something like that. I'll just need to get my tracker pad, and we can get searching."

"But what if we already had one?" said Steven. "Adora's sword is a First Ones artifact, isn't it? And weren't the Gems created by them, too? That would make Gems First Ones artifacts, too, right?"

"I guess they technically are," Entrapta said. "But we need something _way_ stronger than you if we want to hold a candle to Skeletor. No offense."

"None taken," said Garnet.

"Alright then," said Glimmer. "We'll head back to Brightmoon in the morning so we can-"

"Hello? Is there somebody out here?"

Everyone turned towards the sound of the voice. None of them had expected visitors, especially ones as young-sounding as this.

"Was that...a kid?" said Adora.

"Shh, quiet," said Glimmer. "We don't know who it is yet."

"You didn't wake me up, I was just walking out here," the voice said. "I know you said something about the First Ones? Um, I might be able to help…"

Entrapta, despite protests from Catra, made herself known. "You know about the First Ones?" she said. "Yeah, we're over here!"

The source of the unknown voice stepped into view: a young mothkin girl. "Oh, hello," she said. "Sorry if I came out of nowhere, I just heard you talking out here, and I thought I might be able to help."

"And who are you, exactly?" asked Adora.

"I-I'm Flutterina," she said. "It's nice to meet you, She-Ra. I'm such a big fan, I've always wanted to meet you!"

"So, you know who she is," said Glimmer. "And we're supposed to believe you just _happened_ to be walking out in the woods in the middle of the night to hear us talking?"

"Well, not exactly," she said bashfully. "I was, er, listening to your conversation back in town. And then I followed you out here, but I was too nervous to say anything. Until you mentioned First Ones, and I realized I might have something you need."

"Oh, really?" asked Glimmer. "And what is that, exactly?"

"See, I'm not really from Thrush, I was only visiting during the time of the attack," Flutterina explained. "I live over in Mizar."

"Mizar, hmm?" said Bow. "That's Netossa's kingdom."

"Anyway," continued Flutterina, "there's this guy in Mizar who calls himself 'the Surgeon.' And rumor has it that he has a particularly powerful piece of First Ones tech. It's how he...well, you know."

"Wow, thanks for the help!" said Steven.

Connie pulled him aside. "Steven, I don't know about this," she said. "Doesn't this all seem a bit too good to be true?"

"Maybe," said Steven. "But it's the best option we have. And the sooner we defeat Skeletor and save Etheria, the sooner we can go home!"

"He does have a point," said Garnet. "I don't see any futures where this girl betrays us. At least, not yet. If anything comes up, we'll be ready for the worst."

"Alright then," said Entrapta. "Thanks for your help, Flutterina!"

"No problem!" Flutterina walked closer to shake Entrapta's hand (or rather, hair), giving her a better look at the former's red eyes. "I'm just happy to help!"


	12. The Lock

Chapter Twelve: The Lock

* * *

"So...have the Homeworld Gems been to Etheria before?" said Lapis.

"I mean, it looks like it," said Peridot. "I guess it depends on if this project thing works or not."

Demantoid looked over the data. "That is unlikely," she said. "While Project: Drawbridge is theoretically functional, test logs indicate it has not yet been activated. Plans to do so were halted due to Skeletor's invasion."

"Well, hey, then that means we have a way to get to Etheria!" said Peridot.

"Why would we want to go to Etheria?" said Lapis.

"Lapis, don't you understand?" said Peridot. "Steven and the others just disappear after we leave, despite there being no way off the planet before then! Where else do you think they went?"

"I dunno, Earth?" Lapis said.

"Okay, maybe, but Denebria used to be a First Ones-controlled planet before Skeletor took over, and-"

"It was also a Gem colony," added Pyrope.

"_Failed_ Gem colony," continued Peridot. "Anyways, I like to think they would have looked for us before going back to Earth. Unless, they couldn't. And why couldn't they? Because they're in another dimension! It makes perfect sense!"

"Something in your logic seems...faulty," Hessonite said. "It seems a lot more likely they simply missed you when they were searching."

"And how exactly did they get off the planet?" said Peridot. "What, like some big ship just fell out of the sky and picked them up?"

"That's what happened to _us_," Ruby said.

Peridot waved everyone off. "Okay, look: even if the others aren't on Etheria, then I think it's likely Skeletor is. Hessonite, you said he hasn't been seen for a while?"

"No, he hasn't," said Hessonite. "In fact, this is the last planet where he was seen before he disappeared."

"And he just _happened_ to find somewhere with a teleporter to Etheria!" Peridot said. "Here's what I think: Steven or not, taking this 'Lock' thing to Etheria is our best bet. If it really is capable of defeating him, then we'll use to do just that, and then the universe will be saved! Right?"

"Peridot, your plan's crazy," Lapis said. "And yet...some way, somehow, it makes a little bit of sense."

"I agree with the Lazuli," said Hessonite. "Skeletor has been leaving the fighting to his necro-spheres, which makes it likely he is somewhere else, potentially Etheria. If this is true, these two going after him with the Lock just may be what we need to put him down for good."

"And what exactly is 'the Lock?'" asked Pyrope. "We've all heard it mentioned, but we have no idea how exactly it's used!"

"Then we should find out," said Demantoid. "The chamber is this way, follow me."

The gang of Gems set off after her towards where the Lock was being kept, which was also the room where Project: Drawbridge was located. The facility had largely been torn apart by Skeletor's legions, but the room Demantoid led them to was surprisingly untouched.

"Huh. I would've thought this place would be much more...ransacked-looking," noted Ruby.

"That is true," said Pyrope. "If Skeletor was so intent on finding the Lock, why did he not search this place?"

"Because he was unable to discover where it was located," said Demantoid. "Observe."

Upon entering the room, it was clear that quite a bit of time and effort had been placed into Project: Drawbridge. Numerous prototypes of varying shapes and sizes were located all around the room, in varying stages of completion. After double-checking the data from the console, Demantoid approached one of them and pressed a switch.

An automated voice sounded from the device. "Demantoid detected. Clearance level: Garnet. Usage authorized." The device whirred to life, a centrifuge spinning around a central platform. Electricity crackled around it.

"I guess it's a good thing Homeworld hasn't had us blacklisted yet!" said Pyrope.

The show of light and sound from the device reached its peak, and when it slowly came to a stop, a small object was present on the platform. Cylindrical in shape and orange in color, the object had glass sides that provided a view of its internal workings: numerous gears and crystals formed a power source of unknown purpose.

"The technology present in this facility can only be accessed by a Gem," said Demantoid, picking up the object. "As such, Skeletor was unable to locate the Lock. Even if he could, getting it would have been another matter." She handed the cylinder to Peridot. "Using Project: Drawbridge, the Lock had been sealed within a small pocket dimension, making him unable to sense it."

Peridot examined the object. "So, this is the Lock," she said. "It's a little underwhelming, to be honest."

"And, Demantoid, how exactly was the Lock used?" asked Hessonite. "Why was Skeletor so desperate to find it?"

Demantoid looked over the files once more. "According to this research, the Lock is a First Ones artifact capable of acting as a trap for high amounts of energy. It is theorized that it was used to seal away beings of considerable power in the past."

"So Skeletor must have known it could be used to seal _him_ away…" said Pyrope.

"Unfortunately, nobody here was able to figure out how to activate it," Demantoid continued.

"Ah, that's no big deal," said Peridot. "I'm practically already an expert at these things. I'll figure it out in no time." She began fiddling with the top part of the device, which contained what may or may not have been the controls.

"Demantoid, you said something about Skeletor 'sensing' the Lock," said Lapis. "Is that something he can do?"

Hessonite nodded. "We believe so. Skeletor has not only been attacking Gem territories, but former First Ones territories, as well. It is possible he simply knew where these were located due to being a First One himself, as you said, but many of them were long thought to be lost to time. It is likely that he has a way to sense First Ones technology distinct from Gems."

"Eh, no big deal," said Peridot, not even looking up. "We'll manage. Now, how do we get to Etheria?"

"Peridot, I-" said Lapis, only to be cut off by Demantoid.

"The finalized form of Project: Drawbridge is located over there," said the green Garnet. She pointed out an object much like the one she had activated earlier, only with a platform large enough to accommodate several Gems. It seemed to have been combined with a warp pad as well.

Peridot immediately walked over to it, and stood on the platform. "Well, there's no time to waste!" she said. "So, you all coming?"

"You can count me out," said Ruby. "I get dizzy using _regular_ warp pads, no way I'm taking one to another dimension!"

"As much as we would like to help you, we must stay behind," said Hessonite. "Otherwise, I'm afraid there'll be nobody to fight back against Skeletor. Nobody competent, at least."

Lapis sighed. "Peridot, aren't you worried we're rushing into this too fast? What is there isn't a way to get back?"

"There is not," said Demantoid. "Project: Drawbridge is one-way only."

"See?" continued Lapis. "Shouldn't we at least come up with a plan or something?"

"Lapis, it's fine!" Peridot said. "I built a portal between Earth and Etheria once, and I can do it again! Besides, this is about saving the universe, and the Steven Universe!"

"But, don't you…" Lapis shook her head, eventually relenting. "Alright, but if we get stranded, I'm blaming you!"

"That's the spirit!" Peridot said as Lapis joined her. "Alright, fire it up!"

"Commencing activation procedures," said Demantoid. Slowly but surely, the device began to whirr to life. Light shone from the platform as the centrifuge spun faster and faster.

"So long, new friends," said Hessonite. "I wish you luck, and I hope to see you again soon!"

"Good luck to you, too!" said Peridot, waving. The lights reached their peak, and in an instant, Peridot and Lapis had vanished. The centrifuge gradually slowed to a halt.

"Well, that was neat," said Pyrope, breaking the silence. "So, where to next?"

* * *

Surrounded by a blasted wasteland, containing nothing but dust and decay, Skeletor suddenly perked his head up. Where there had been nothing, suddenly a presence had shot into life. The unmistakable hum of power, potentially rivaling even his own. Could it be the very object he sought to destroy? No, of course not.

Still, this new presence was clearly powerful. And if it was capable of being a threat to his mission, he would have to move fast if he wanted to snuff it out. With a wave of his staff, Skeletor opened up a portal, and stepped through. Whatever was behind this hum, man, beast, or machine, he would allow nothing to usurp him as the rightful king of death.

* * *

Elsewhere, in the Fright Zone, someone else would also receive troubling information.

Hordak, at the time occupied with fending off the invasion of the living dead, had just received a rather unwelcome surprise from his little companion. Imp had flown in from the ceiling, and quickly made it clear he had something of importance to tell his master.

"What is it now?" growled Hordak. "Can you not see that I am busy?"

Imp only sat beside his master, opening his mouth to deliver a recording of what he had heard: "If Hordak has proven anything lately, it's that he's unfit to lead the Horde," came Catra's voice. "From now on, if we want anything to get done around here, we're doing it ourselves, behind Hordak's back. Skeletor-we need to take him out as soon as possible."

Despite the snarl that followed, Hordak wore a malicious sneer. "Once again, Catra, you have proven yourself untrustworthy." Despite this, he waved Imp off. "No matter. If she wishes to go after Skeletor herself, it's no concern of mine. It is her life to give."

Imp then played another recording, one that Hordak was far more invested in. "Just the three of us? Mmm, I dunno, Catra, that feels pretty risky."

Hordak turned around. "Entrapta...is going with them?" Imp cackled in response. Immediately, Hordak stood up and made for the exit.

"Lord Hordak?" one of the nearby soldiers said. "Where are you going?"

"To crush an insubordinate pawn," he growled.


	13. Rendezvous

Chapter Thirteen: Rendezvous

* * *

The tranquil forest was suddenly illuminated by a blinding flash of light. It only lasted for a moment, before disappearing as though it was never there. The silence was then broken as a figure cried out, suddenly realizing she was falling from a great height. Another figure quickly swooped down with her wings, and caught the other before she could hit the ground. The two then gently descended to the forest floor.

"So, this is Etheria?" said Lapis.

"Yup," Peridot replied. "Well, probably. I was only here for a little bit, and I didn't get to see much of it. So really, we could be anywhere."

"Great. That's really reassuring," grumbled Lapis.

"Ah, there's no reason to worry!" exclaimed Peridot confidently. "Where else would we be? Now, should we get to looking for Steven?"

"Easier said than done," said Lapis, spreading her wings. "It's a whole planet, and he could be anywhere…"

* * *

Queen Angella was used to Glimmer pitching various risky, dangerous, or even outright reckless schemes to combat their enemies. The one she and her friends had just come up with this time was...odd, to say the least. "Now, let me get this straight: you intend to search for a First Ones artifact in Mizar with the capacity to defeat Skeletor, all on the word of a strange girl you met out in the woods?"

"That's about it," said Glimmer. She had conveniently left out the part about the Horde trio helping them, not sure how her mother would react. Bringing home one Horde soldier was risky enough, even if she was She-Ra! "I mean, it's not like we have any other leads."

"Is that so?" said the queen. "And how are you sure that this girl isn't secretly working for the Horde?"

Adora tried to say something. "Well, um…"

Flutterina spoke up. "Your Majesty, may I say something?" Angella nodded. "I know that just telling you I'm not a bad guy wouldn't mean that I'm not a bad guy, but I will say this: even if I was a bad guy, Skeletor's putting all of Etheria in danger. Horde or not, I think he's still a bigger threat. My word may not mean much, but I promise I'll do what I can to help the rebellion, for whatever that's worth."

"I'm not sure I buy it," said Netossa. "Where exactly did you find this 'artifact,' anyway?"

"Well…" said Flutterina. "I didn't really find it. Technically, it belongs to the Surgeon." Netossa sat back in her chair, groaning and massaging her forehead.

"Um, may I say something?" said Steven. "Who exactly is this 'Surgeon' person I keep hearing about?"

"He's a Mizaran crime boss," Spinnerella explained. "He controls the city's entire criminal underground-counterfeit money, smuggling, embezzling, you name it. Netty's been trying to catch him for years now, to no such luck."

"Sometimes, I swear he's just toying with me!" Netossa said.

"Hey, you know, if he really does have that First Ones tech, maybe this could be your chance to finally nab him!" said Connie.

"That's true!" said Adora. "If Flutterina's right, and he does have a First Ones artifact, then all we'll need is Bow's tracker pad to find him!"

"All that's only if she _is_ telling the truth," said Netossa. "How do we know she isn't one of his henchmen trying to trick us?"

"Well, for what it's worth, I _am_ picking up a pretty strong signal in Mizar's direction," said Bow, consulting his tracker pad. "So there's definitely _something_ over there…"

"So, what do you say, mom?" asked Glimmer. "What have we got to lose?"

"Against a notorious crimelord?" responded Angella. "I'd say you have quite a bit to lose!"

"Aw, come on!" said Glimmer. "Next to the Horde and Skeletor, this Surgeon guy's nothing! Between me, Adora and Bow, the Crystal Gems, and the other princesses, it'll be almost too easy!"

"Speaking of the other princesses," said Angella, "I'm afraid they won't be joining you. Plumeria, Saleneas, and the Kingdom of Snows are all under siege by Skeletor's armies. The princesses are too busy defending their homelands to assist us."

"What?" said Steven. "Should we go and help them?"

"Those three can hold their own," said Spinnerella. "Besides, if we go to Mizar and get this artifact, we'll be all the closer to destroying Skeletor for good, putting an end to this nightmare at the source."

"So you're coming with us?" asked Bow.

"Of course," said Netossa. "It's my kingdom, after all." She turned to the princess beside her. "Speaking of, are you sure your kingdom's okay?"

"The Etherian Highlands will be fine," said Spinnerella. "The mountains have shielded us from attack so far. And if anything does come up, I could always fly right over!"

"I suppose you've made a decent case for yourselves," said Angella. "So long as you all stick together, I'll allow you to make this journey."

"Really!?" said Glimmer. She honestly wasn't expecting her mother to let her go with so little persuasion. "Is there a catch?"

"The only catch is to promise me you won't get hurt," said Angella. "Skeletor is a bigger threat to Etheria than the Horde has ever been. We have to stop him somehow, and if Bow is sure that this artifact can do it, I have no reason to doubt him." As they had not told Angella about Catra and the others helping them, Bow had been the one to 'discover' this weakness of Skeletor's.

"Thanks, Mom!" said Glimmer, hugging Angella. "We won't let you down! Right, everyone?"

"Right!" said Steven, Connie, Adora, Bow, and Bismuth in tandem.

"Now let's go!"

* * *

And so, the team set off towards Mizar. The Best Friend Squad, all six Crystal Gems, Spinneralla and Netossa, and Flutterina. The Super Pal Trio was on their way as well, but as the news of their temporary alliance had not yet been told to Netossa and Spinnerella, the three of them traveled separately.

"So, exactly what kind of artifact is it that the Surgeon has?" Bow asked Flutterina.

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure," the mothkin girl replied. "All I know is he's pretty proud of having found it. He wouldn't tell any of us what it did, though."

"Woah woah woah, wait just a moment!" Netossa stopped the whole convoy in their tracks. "Did you just say 'us?' Are you working for him or something?"

Flutterina hung her head shamefully. "I...I used to," she explained. "That's how I knew about it. It's also how I ended up in Thrush."

"So, you ran away?" asked Steven.

She nodded. "I'd been working for him for years, ever since he took me in. All the terrible things he did...I wanted to run away all this time, but I was too scared to. But once Skeletor started attacking, I felt like I had to do something, and I couldn't do anything as long as I was still there."

"How awful," said Pearl. "Why would he force you to work for him for so long?"

"He said someone who looks like me is useful," she said. "An innocent little girl, she could get away with pretty much anything, trick people to do whatever she wanted...That's what he said, at least."

Spinnerella placed a comforting hand on Flutterina's head. "You're very brave for running away from that man," she said. "We'll get him, don't you worry."

"Thank you so much," said Flutterina. "I'm glad I could do something to help, even if it is small."

"Are you kidding?" said Glimmer. "If this artifact helps us beat Skeletor, it'll be the biggest help you could have done! And you know...since you have nowhere else to go, maybe you would consider staying with us in Brightmoon?"

"In Brightmoon, with the one and only She-Ra!?" Flutterina exclaimed excitedly. "How could I say no to that? Come on, let's go!" She excitedly ran to the front of the group.

"Well, someone's eager!" said Adora. "So, Bow, what's the status on that artifact?"

Bow looked to his pad. "Actually, I'm picking up another signal close by. It wasn't there back at the castle...I wonder what it could be?"

"Where is it?" asked Garnet. "Two artifacts are better than one, after all."

"Just down this way," said Bow, pointing down a dirt road. "Actually, it's getting closer."

"Wait, hang on," said Steven. "Do you guys hear voices?"

Everyone quieted down to listen. Indeed, two voices were coming from the direction of the signal. Two very familiar voices. "Is that…?" said Pearl.

"Peridot and Lapis!" shouted Steven. "They're here!" The boy ran down the path towards the sound of their voices. The blue and green Gems soon came into view.

"Hey, look, there he is!" Peridot yelled excitedly. "Steven, over here!" She quickly ran over to him, and the pair were soon joined by the rest of their respective groups. "You see? I told you we'd find him eventually!"

"Well, how about this?" said Bismuth. "How'd you two make it all the way here?"

"And what is that?" said Bow, pointing to the Lock. "That wouldn't be a First Ones artifact, would it?"

"It is," said Lapis. "It's kind of a long story how we got it, though. I don't suppose you have some time?"

"Oh, we have plenty," said Connie. "We're going on a quest to find a First Ones artifact in Mizar...which I'm now starting to wonder if we'll need, since you have one…"

At that moment, Bow was drawn to a sudden beeping coming from his tracker pad. After looking at it, he found something strange. "Uh, guys? Speaking of First Ones artifacts...there's a third one headed this way."

"Wh-another one?" said Adora. "Where's this one?"

"It should be right...there." However, right where Bow pointed, where the First Ones artifact was, was a storm of dark black clouds. And beneath them, eye lights glowing ominously, was Skeletor.


	14. The Shadow of Death Redux

Chapter Fourteen: The Shadow of Death Redux

* * *

Skeletor stood before the alliance, his very presence seeming to demoralize them. It was as if the air itself grew heavier as he approached. Everyone hesitantly raised their weapons as he stepped closer, and Flutterina retreated to the back of the group.

"Not again!" cried Adora.

"This doesn't make sense!" said Connie. "How does he keep finding us?"

Peridot looked down at the Lock in her hands. "Uh oh."

"'Uh oh?' What's 'uh oh?'" said Amethyst.

"Long story short, we think Skeletor can sense First Ones technology," said Lapis. "He's here for the Lock."

Skeletor stomped closer. "What does he want that thing for?" said Netossa.

"Because we can use it to defeat him!" said Peridot. "I just need to figure out how to get it working…"

"Children of Etheria!" Skeletor's booming voice rang out across the hills, sending a shiver down everyone's collective spine. "Your attempts to stop my crusade thus far have been...laughable. But by summoning this infernal device, you have just declared war." Dark energy swirled around his body as he was lifted into the air, looming above the team.

"He sounds pretty angry," said Bow. "Whatever that Lock thing is, you'd better get it working soon!"

"I'm trying my best!" said Peridot, fiddling with the device. No matter how hard she tried, the numerous buttons and switches did nothing to activate the artifact.

"You yet refuse to discontinue your resistance," said Skeletor. The jewel at the tip of his staff began to glow. "This cannot be allowed." He aimed his staff at them as the glowing reached its peak. "You will be cleansed."

A tremendous beam of light shot forth from his scepter. Everything happened so fast-Steven had no time to draw his shield, Adora had no time to transform into She-Ra. Too gripped by terror and shock, everyone was unable to resist, soon to be vaporized by the beam.

But the attack never hit its mark.

Steven, who had closed his eyes, opened them upon hearing the beam colliding with something besides them. Everyone was surrounded by a shield made from light blue energy, which held Skeletor's attack at bay. Standing in front of them all, and the source of this barrier, was none other than Queen Angella.

"Mom!?" exclaimed Glimmer, shocked.

Angella turned back towards the group. "Get ready to run!" She broke the barrier, creating a shockwave that dissipated Skeletor's laser. The undead sorcerer descended the ground towards his new opponent.

"The angel has returned," he said, eerily calm. "Have you come to join the rest of your kind?"

"I don't care what you have to say," said Angella. "I don't care how powerful you are. I will not allow you to terrorize my subjects. And I certainly won't allow you to harm my daughter!"

"Classic Etherian confidence," Skeletor mused. "Why don't we see how fast we can make that evaporate?" Both he and Angella sped towards each other. They collided, sending a shockwave across the field. They exchanged blows, pink and purple beams of light being hurled at the other.

"Everyone fall back!" said Spinnerella, standing in front of the team. "This could get messy!"

"Wait, we can't leave!" cried Glimmer. "We have to help!"

"_Can_ we even help?" asked Adora. "I mean, I want to, but you saw what he's capable of!"

"I hate to say it, but there isn't much we can do now," said Bow. "All we can do is fall back until Peridot gets the Lock working. Until then, Angella can hold her own."

Indeed, Queen Angella was faring quite well against her foe. The two of them continued firing blasts of energy at the other, and while Skeletor did not seem to be tiring, Angella refused to back down. "Tell me, why do you refuse to die?" asked Skeletor casually.

"You underestimate what a queen would do to protect her kingdom, and a mother, her child," Angella said. "If it means protecting both, I would gladly fight to my last breath!"

"Then I shall accommodate you," said Skeletor. The necromancer prepared to fire another beam, but was interrupted when a powerful projectile collided with him, consuming his form in a fiery explosion.

"What the!? What was _that_?" exclaimed Netossa.

"Over there." Garnet pointed out the source of the explosion: not far from the fight was a battalion of Horde tanks. And standing atop one was Hordak himself.

"Hordak's here!?" Everyone turned to this sudden shout. Entrapta her revealed herself, poking her head out of the bushes at Hordak's sudden arrival.

"Horde soldier! Get back!" said Netossa, preparing to perform her namesake action at the sudden intruder.

Both Entrapta's hands and pigtails shot into the air. "No, wait! Truce! Truce!"

"She's right," said Bow. "She's helping us look for the artifact in Mizar. We didn't tell anyone because we were worried of how you would react to us working with the Horde."

Netossa backed down. "Not as badly as I would have without you telling me up front!" she said.

Meanwhile, Hordak stomped closer to the battling duo. "So, this is the mighty Skeletor. We finally meet in person. I am...unimpressed."

"As am I, clone!" said Skeletor. "This is what the once-mighty Horde has been reduced to? A shadow of its former self, led by a mere copy of a pathetic excuse for the Horde Prime?"

Hordak thrust both his arms outward towards Skeletor. "Die!" Two red lasers shot out from his palms, only narrowly blocked by Skeletor's staff. Angella took this moment to launch an attack of her own. The beam hit Skeletor, sending him careening to the ground. So great was the impact, it caused him to drop his staff.

Angella landed next to where he had landed. His staff now laying several meters away, Skeletor seemed to be sapped of power. His movements as he stood up were jerky and sudden, as though he had lost some control over his body.

Just before Angella could fire another attack at the weakened sorcerer, she had to use her shield to block an incoming blast from Hordak. "The regent herself, head of the Rebellion," he said. "It would seem all my greatest adversaries are together in one place!"

"Oh no, what's he doing?" said Entrapta. "No, not Angella, get Skeletor! Skeletor!"

"You see? He really _is_ incompetent," said Catra.

Spinnerella turned to Bow. "How many Horde soldiers did you guys bring?"

Queen Angella was now facing Hordak. "Lord Hordak," she said, her voice low. "We meet at last. You will pay for what you have done."

"As will you!" said Hordak, firing another barrage at Angella. The angel was able to dodge it by flying into the air, before dive-bombing directly at the Horde leader. A sword of red energy emerged from Hordak's wrist, which Angella narrowly avoided being hit by.

"Someone's gotta stop them!" said Steven. "Skeletor's still there!"

"No! Stop fighting, both of you!" Entrapta shouted, running out into the field. Scorpia tried to stop her, but she was faster than she looked, soon reaching both of them.

"Entrapta!" Hordak exclaimed in surprise. Angella stopped as well, surprised to see this traitor princess so closely aligned with the Horde leadership. Unfortunately, in this momentary lull in the chaos, Skeletor had managed to crawl his way over to his staff.

Everything happened so fast. Before anyone even knew what was going on, a streak of energy flew through the air. Skeletor's beam collided with Angella, piercing directly through her left wing. The queen was sent to the ground instantly by the attack.

"MOM!" Glimmer screamed. She immediately ran to where Angella had fallen to, fearing the worst.

"Pitiful," Skeletor snarled. "I have had just about enough of this pathetic planet." The Horde tanks prepared to fire on him. He fired first, sending a laser through all of them, causing the vehicles to explode. Hordak shielded Entrapta from the explosion, the force of it knocking both of them down. "Let us finish this, shall we?" Skeletor raised his staff to deal the death blow to the two of them, only to be interrupted when another beam, this one blue in color, knocked him back.

This beam had come from Adora's sword, who now stood as She-Ra. Saying nothing, but wearing an expression of anger, the warrior charged him. Skeletor launched a beam in her direction, but this was blocked by Steven's shield, who likewise ran towards the sorcerer.

Both Steven and Adora swung their respective weapons at Skeletor, who simply deflected them with his staff. But the heroes were relentless, continuing to lay into him. Such was their ferocity that they had forgotten the very fear that Skeletor had instilled in them, and continued to do so.

"Enough!" Skeletor shouted, launching Steven and Adora back with a magical shockwave. "I refuse to be driven before such whelps! I am Skeletor, the-" Skeletor was then immediately struck by another beam, this one coming from Glimmer. Standing near the unconscious Angella with a look of sheer rage, the princess launched blast after blast into the sorcerer.

Adora and Steven took this as a sign to renew their assault. Both of them ran towards him, leaping into the air together. Skeletor held out his staff to block their attack. Sword and shield were brought down onto the staff in tandem; the resulting shockwave from the blow sent all three of them careening back, and was felt by everyone present.

Skeletor was the first to realize that something was wrong. His confident demeanor faded as he looked down as his staff: a small crack had appeared where the two heroes had struck it, crackles of magical energy escaping from within. His eyes widened in uncharacteristic fear, Skeletor opened a portal behind him. He shot one last glare to the group before vanishing into it, and with that, was gone.

Everything was silent. Steven and Adora lay on the grass, both of them exhausted. Glimmer returned to Angella's side, who, while weak, was still breathing. Hordak and Entrapta retreated to beyond the wreckage of the Horde tanks, Catra and Scorpia joining them. Everyone else slowly began to return to their senses as Skeletor's influence gradually faded.


	15. The Journey Ahead

Chapter Fifteen: The Journey Ahead

* * *

"Mom, can you hear me?" said Glimmer. "Mom, please, say something!"

Queen Angella only continued to lie there, her breaths ragged but consistent. Glimmer's attempts to wake her proved futile. The others crowded around her in concern. Spinnerella leaned down to examine her. Bow placed an arm around Glimmer's shoulders.

"Is she gonna be okay?" asked Flutterina.

"I...I don't know," said Spinnerella. "Her wing...I think she's in shock."

Glimmer fought back tears. "Adora, you have to do something!" she said, looking up hopelessly at her friend. "You can heal her! Please, you're the only one who can help her!"

"I-I don't know if I can!" said Adora. "I don't know how...I might hurt her!"

"You have to try, please!" said Glimmer. "She could die if you don't!"

During all of this commotion, all Steven could do was look on, a pit in his stomach. This woman, who had offered him and the others a home while being trapped in this world, who had proven herself to be such a kind and caring mother to her daughter, was dying before his eyes.

Steven turned to face Connie. The latter nodded. Slowly, Steven stepped forward towards Angella, leaning down next to her wounded wing. He licked his palm, covering it with his magically-infused saliva, and then placed it on the appendage. Almost instantly, Angella began to glow. Slowly, the hole in her wing began to shut, until it had almost entirely been sealed. While it still looked wounded, it appeared much, much better than it had before. Angella's breathing became less strained.

Glimmer, Adora, and the others stared in quiet disbelief. "Steven…" said Glimmer.

Steven stood up. "I think she'll be okay," he said. "Usually, when I heal someone, it either works really well, or not at all. She still looks hurt, though. That's never happened before."

"We'll need to get her back to the Moonstone," said Spinnerella. "That might be able to heal her."

Bismuth stepped forward to carry Angella's form back to Brightmoon. Spinnerella would accompany her, and Glimmer anxiously stayed by her mother's side.

"Steven...thank you so much," she said softly. Steven nodded, smiling slightly.

Adora walked over to Glimmer. "We should come to, to help in any way we can," she said.

"No, you have to go to Mizar," Glimmer said. "We'll be fine, but Skeletor's still out there. Follow Netossa to Mizar, get that artifact, and _put Skeletor down._" Glimmer stared into Adora's eyes with a fiery determination underlied with a quiet sorrow.

"Okay," said Adora. "But once we get it, we're coming right back to check on Angella."

"Of course," said Glimmer, turning back to follow her mother. "Good luck, you all." And she was gone.

"Glimmer's right," said Bow. "We need that artifact if we want any chance of stopping Skeletor. We just can't beat him on our own."

"What about the Lock?" said Peridot.

"What about it?" said Lapis. "If you can't even figure out how to get it working, it's not gonna be much help." Peridot looked down, disappointed.

"Hey, don't worry," said Bow. "It's just good to have a plan B, is all. Speaking of which, we should probably get going."

"Right," said Netossa. "Come on, let's get that First Ones thingy and show Skeletor who's boss! You coming, Flutters?"

Flutterina hadn't been grouped up like the others, instead standing a short distance away, looking in the direction where Queen Angella had been taken. "Hmm?" she said, turning around. "Oh, y-yes, I'm right behind you!" She hurried over, and the group made their way to the kingdom of Mizar.

Meanwhile, Hordak and a small battalion of Horde troops were returning to the Fright Zone, accompanied by Entrapta. "Once again, Catra has proven to have you under her sway," he said. "Time and time again, she has proven to value her own personal gain over that of the Horde. I fear you will be dragged down with her one of these days."

"Catra's my friend," Entrapta said.

"Is that so?" mused Hordak. "Friend or not, she has damn near committed high treason. The only reason I haven't sent her to Beast Island by now is because of her competence, but now, I am beginning to reconsider."

Scorpia, with Catra strolling behind her, caught up with the two of them. "Lord Hordak, if I may?" she said, panting. "All Catra was trying to do was find a way to defeat Skeletor. I'm sure you've figured out he's a bit of a problem, right?" She waited for a response from Hordak, but after no such thing came, she continued. "Well, anyway, she wasn't so much trying to betray you as she was not going out of her way to trouble you. She was going to work with the princesses so you didn't have to. Make sense?"

"And me being unfit to lead the Horde? Was that not to trouble me as well?" said Hordak.

"Uh...well that's just her...opinion," Scorpia said lamely. Hordak sniffed, before turning to continue walking.

"Hang on a minute, Hordak!" said Entrapta, grabbing his arm with her hair. "I know you aren't too happy with Catra, but she's right!"

"You think me incompetent?" asked Hordak. Strangely, he didn't seem all that angry.

"No, no, not like that!" Entrapta quickly clarified. "I just meant that we have to do something about Skeletor! He's been attacking Horde territories, too, hasn't he?"

"It isn't anything I can't handle," said Hordak. "Skeletor will fall eventually."

"No, he won't!" Hordak turned around at Entrapta's forceful delivery. She continued. "Skeletor isn't like the princesses. You can't beat him with brute force like you usually do. He's undead, a powerful sorcerer, and unbelievably dangerous. We can't stop him without that piece of First Ones tech in Mizar!"

"I won't waste precious resources on...Mizar, you say?" Hordak stopped to consider this. "And this is where the princesses are headed as well, yes?"

"I think so, yes," said Entrapta. "Why?"

Hordak thought about this. If Entrapta was right, and this artifact was indeed the key to defeating Skeletor, then sending his troops to Mizar may just be worth it. Besides, that kingdom had evaded his grasp for quite some time now, his attempts to invade fought off every time. This could be his chance to finally take the city. "I have made up my mind. As soon as we return to the Fright Zone, I will send a unit to procure that artifact. And you," he said to Scorpia, "will be given the chance to redeem yourself by leading it."

"Thank you, Lord Hordak. I think…" said Scorpia.

"You, however, will stay," Hordak said to Entrapta. "I cannot risk putting you in harm's way, knowledgeable of First Ones technology as you are."

"You mean...I'm not going?" said Entrapta.

"Of course not. If this insurgence should go wrong, I will not put you at risk."

"And what about me?" asked Catra. "I imagine you're sending me to Mizar. Probably hoping something _does_ go wrong for me, right?"

"Ah yes, Catra," said Hordak. "I had almost forgotten about you. Yes, you will be going to Mizar with the others. And you will not be returning."

"What!?" Catra exclaimed. "You're kidding!"

"I do not kid," said Hordak. "The only reason I am not banishing you to Beast Island is because Entrapta here is somewhat fond of you." He walked closer to her, and removed the Force Captain emblem from the front of her shirt. "Once the artifact is retrieved, you are not to return to the Fright Zone. Where you go afterwards is no concern of mine."

Hordak resumed his walk, the soldiers following suit. Catra just stood there, unsure of how to react. Scorpia and Entrapta both looked at her with concern as they wordlessly returned to the Fright Zone.

* * *

"So, this is Mizar," said Pearl, looking up at the acropolis before them. "It's beautiful."

"Thanks. It's nothing special, though," said Netossa.

"'Nothing special?' It's awesome!" exclaimed Connie.

Indeed, the kingdom-or, more accurately, city-state-of Mizar was quite an impressive sight. Built around a small mountain, the kingdom went from small houses to large mansions the further up it went, with Netossa's castle resembling a large white spite at the summit.

"What are we waiting for?" said Flutterina. "Come on, I'll show you the way!"

"Hold on a minute, kiddo," said Netossa. "There's still a few princess-y things I need to do first."

"And besides, we should probably come up with a plan before we run in there," said Bow.

"Well, at least this will give us an opportunity to do some sightseeing!" said Pearl.

"Yeah, and me some time to figure this thing out," said Peridot, still fiddling with the Lock.

The group of heroes approached the gates, unaware of what waited for them on the other side…

* * *

Darkness. Death. Desolation. Skeletor sat in the middle of all of these things, fuming. His eyes were focused on nothing but the crack in his staff, which, tiny though it was, represented something much greater to him.

That, despite his vast power, he was still mortal.

He gripped the staff tighter, his hand wrapping around the chip. He raised it into the air, summoning the bulk of his armies to his side. He could feel the allure of two powerful First Ones artifacts, both near one another. That would be where his enemies were.

For a brief moment, he felt something else. A faint flicker-a third artifact. It was gone as soon as it had come. He brushed the thought aside. He had bigger things to worry about.

He slammed the butt of his staff down into the ground. The earth shook as the very ground beneath him was pulled up by some unseen force. He was going to take Mizar. And if he was to succeed, he would need his army to be larger than ever.


	16. Mizar

Chapter Sixteen: Mizar

* * *

"Welcome back, your majesty," said a Mizaran guard, she and her fellow bowing to Netossa. "I trust that everything is going well for the Princess Alliance?"

"Oh, yeah, just swell," said Netossa. "About as well as it could be with Skeletor running around. He hasn't been here yet, has he?"

"Not yet, Princess," the other guard said. "Though there have been reported sightings of his undead minions in by nearby villages, none of them have made any moves on the city."

"Well, that's a plus," said Connie.

"We need to head to the palace," Netossa said. "We're making a move on the Surgeon."

"Right away, Princess!" said a guard. The two of them escorted the group up the hill towards Netossa's palace. Everyone looked around at their surroundings; even at the lowest level, Mizar was a beautiful place, with lots of pristine white making up the buildings. As almost everyone marveled at the architecture, Bow was instead focusing on his tracker pad. Garnet took notice, leaning in to get a look over his shoulder.

"Have you located the artifact yet?" she asked.

"That's going to be a bit of a problem," said Bow. "See, I'm getting two signals, but they're a bit...weird."

"How so?" asked Adora. "You aren't still getting the Sword of Protection, are you?"

"No, I adjusted this thing to ignore your sword so it doesn't interfere when we look for other artifacts," Bow explained. "One of the signals I know is from the Lock, but the other...it's not coming from any one place. It's like it's all over Mizar."

"What, like the whole city is the artifact?" asked Lapis.

"Not exactly," continued Bow. "It's like it changes locations faster than the pad can detect, and it's all over the city at once."

"That could make finding it...difficult," said Garnet.

"What about your future vision?" asked Steven. "Couldn't you use that to find where it is?"

"Future vision works based on probability, not possibility," Garnet said. "I can see many locations where it _could_ be, but none of them are certain. It might even be somewhere I can't see. If we can get some more information, I might be able to narrow it down further."

By this time, the group had made it up to the palace. Two attendants slid open the double doors, giving access to the pearly white interior. "Welp, here we are," Netossa said. "Make yourselves comfortable, but not too comfortable. We just had this place deep-cleaned."

"This place is amazing!" cried Flutterina, running in to see all of it as quickly as she could. "Do we have time for a tour?"

"Eh, to be honest, there isn't that much to see," said Netossa. "I actually don't come here all that much."

"You don't!?" said Flutterina. "You have a giant palace, and you never use it!?"

Netossa shrugged. "I prefer to do things on the scene. I only come here for political business, that sort of thing. Really, the only places I go on here are the throne room and the Runestone room."

"Ooh, can we see that?" asked Adora.

"Sure, I guess," Netossa said. "Follow me."

Netossa led the way upstairs to an open room. In the center was a large white sphere, hovering between two spires, one on the floor and one on the ceiling. The sphere had numerous equidistant grooves running across it, giving it a gridlike appearance similar to Netossa's nets.

"Well, here's my Runestone, the Kinetic Crystal," Netossa said. "The source of all my nets."

"So...it gives you net powers?" said Amethyst, trying and failing to hide her unimpressment.

"Yes, but it's not that simple," Netossa explained. "The Kinetic Crystal represents the idea of energy. You see, the First Ones believed that there was an invisible force, besides magic, that was all over the place."

"Indeed," said Pearl. "In fact, there are several."

"Anyways," Netossa continued, "they thought that this energy was what held everything together. _Bound_ it together. Hence, nets. Hence, tossing them."

"Ooh…" said Flutterina. She sounded genuinely impressed.

"Well, we'd better get started on looking for that thingy," Netossa said. "Hopefully we can find it before someone else does."

As they walked back to the throne room, a nervous attendant hurried over to them. "Your Majesty, we have a big problem! Horde forces have occupied the city!"

"What!?" pretty much everyone shouted.

* * *

Indeed, many Horde soldiers had begun to make their way into Mizar. Though armed, from the balcony where the heroes looked down from, they did not seem to have brought any heavy weaponry. It wasn't an invasion, but they weren't leaving any time soon.

"How did they get past your defenses?" asked Connie.

"How do you think?" replied the attendant. "They showed up, and demanded to be let in! With the kind of firepower they have, we couldn't take any chances putting the civilians at risk."

"And now, _everyone's_ at risk," grumbled Netossa. She sighed, making her way back inside. "I'll deal with this. Everyone else, take five. We'll regroup once I have this sorted out."

"But what about the artifact? And the Surgeon?" asked Steven.

"We'll have to wait 'till morning," said Netossa. "Just...I dunno, hang out 'till then, I'll take care of everything."

"Are you sure we can't do anything to help?" asked Adora.

"Don't worry, it's fine," Netossa said. "I'll sort everything out."

"Well, if you're sure," Bow said. Netossa walked away, leaving the rest of them alone in the room.

* * *

Night had just fallen. Adora sat alone on the upper levels, looking off to the horizon. From up here, one could see for miles in every direction. If she concentrated, she could just make out the lights of Castle Brightmoon over the lights from the city below.

"Adora, mind if I come up?" She turned around. Steven stood in the doorway, holding a pair of drinks. "Bow made lemonade! Since you're up here all alone, I came up to see if you wanted some."

"Sure thing," Adora said. "Thanks, Steven." She took one of the glasses, and continued to look off into the distance.

"Are you alright, Adora?" asked Steven. "It feels like something's bothering you."

Adora looked down at her reflection in the glass. "I just can't stop thinking about Angella," she said. "I should have been able to do something, but I couldn't. I was too scared." She picked up the Sword of Protection. "As She-Ra, I'm supposed to be able to heal those close to me. But I've never been able to figure out how to do it. It's a good thing you were able to do it instead. I don't know what would have happened if you weren't there."

"Well…" Steven said, pausing. "I don't know if it works the same way for you as it does for me, but most of my powers are tied to my emotions. Like, they go out of control if I get mad, and I can't use them if I lose confidence in myself. Maybe it's something similar for you?"

"Maybe," Adora said with a sigh. "I just wish someone could help me figure out what I'm supposed to do."

Steven thought for a moment, before setting his glass down. He bent down, rolling up his right pant leg. His knee was quite rough looking. "I skinned it back when we were fighting Skeletor," he said. "I could have healed it a while ago, but so much was happening that I forgot. So instead of me, would you like to do the honors?"

"Are you sure?" asked Adora. "I really don't know what will happen. What if I hurt you?"

"Yeah, but what if you heal me?" said Steven. "You'll never know unless you try it!"

Adora looked at her sword hesitantly. But under Steven's hopeful gaze, she stood up, holding the handle tightly. "Okay. Got any pointers?"

"For me, it's not enough to just slap on some spit," said Steven. "I have to care about who I'm healing. Easy enough, right?"

"Care, I have to care," said Adora. She closed her eyes, holding the sword out in front of her. Her mind filled with her desire to save those she cared about. And that is when it happened.

To the surprise of both of them, a blue light shot from the sword's Runestone. It covered Steven's entire body, filling him with a warmth similar, but not identical, to the kind he felt during fusion. After several seconds, the light diminished, returning to the Sword of Protection. Steven's knee was good as new, no sign of injury.

"Did it work?" asked Adora, not looking.

Steven examined the appendage. "It worked!" he exclaimed. "Not a scratch on it!"

Adora opened her eyes, admiring her handiwork. "I did it," she said softly. "I did it! I can heal!"

"Yeah you can!" said Steven, hopping up. "I guess all you need is to believe in yourself!"

"No, what I _need_ is a great teacher," she said. "You know your magic, Steven. Think you can give me some pointers?"

"Wow. Me, a teacher," said Steven. "Sure, I'd love to!"

"With the Princess Alliance and the Crystal Gems side-by-side, we'll be unstoppable!" cried Adora. She took a swig of lemonade, only for her confident demeanor to immediately melt away. "It...it's way too sour," she said.

"It is," said Steven, snickering. The two of them shared a laugh under the night sky.


	17. Ups and Downs

Chapter Seventeen: Ups and Downs

* * *

Queen Angella awoke with only one thought on her mind: Glimmer. Was she okay? Had she and the others escaped from Skeletor? Where were they now? Actually, where was she now? She opened her eyes to find herself resting underneath the Moonstone, its calm, cool light washing over her. The next thing she found was that she was very, very sore.

Angella struggled to her feet. Her body ached, but the worst of it was her wing. She remembered what had happened: during her fight with Skeletor and Hordak, she had let her guard down. The former had shot her out of the air, and everything past that was a blank.

"Are you alright, Queen Angella?" The Queen only just then noticed that Spinnerella was present in the Moonstone chamber with her. "You took a pretty big fall back there."

"Yes, I'm fine," said Angella. This was half true. She was sore, yes, but not in any real pain. "Is everyone else alright? Glimmer, Adora, Bow?"

"Everyone's okay," said Spinnerella. "We were able to fend off Skeletor after he...anyway, they all headed on to Mizar to search."

Angella sighed, content just to know they were safe. "That's good to hear. Hopefully they will be able to find what they're looking for, and this whole nightmare will be behind us."

"Hey, you doing alright up here, your majesty?" Bismuth entered. "Thought I heard voices. How's the wing? Holding up alright?"

"Fine, actually," said Angella, examining her wing. "After the hit I took, I never would have expected it to heal so quickly."

"It was that boy, Steven," Spinnerella explained. "He healed you with some of his magic."

"That's Steven for ya," said Bismuth. "Inherited that from his mother."

Angella made her way out of the chamber, heading towards the throne room. "Queen Angella, where are you going?" asked Spinnerella. "Are you sure you're better?"

"I feel well enough," she said. "I may not be flying for a while, but I still have a kingdom to oversee.

"Heh, keepin' on even when you're broken down!" said Bismuth. "Now that I can admire. Y'know, me and Rose Quartz may have been at odds over some things, but that was one of the things I looked up to her for. You remind me of her, in a good way."

"Good to hear," said Angella. "From the little I have heard of this Rose Quartz, she seems to be a strong leader. I hope I can live up to her in this regard." The queen continued into the castle proper, where she was greeted by a royal guard. The guard seemed agitated as she hurried over to the queen.

"Your majesty, I-oh, are you alright? How is your wing?" asked the guard.

"My wing will heal in time," Angella said. "Now, you look like you have urgent news."

"Yes, urgent indeed! Skeletor's forces have been sighted all across the valley. They all seem to be heading in the direction of Mizar."

"Oh, no," said Spinnerella, worried by this new development. "So Skeletor knows what we're planning."

"Have we mobilized the soldiers yet?" asked Angella.

"We're doing the best we can, but our forces are stretched thin as it is," said the guard. "At this rate, we won't have anyone available to launch a counteroffensive."

"Troubling," said Angella, her face darkening. "Have you contacted the other members of the Princess Alliance yet?"

"We haven't had a chance to," the guard said. "With all this Skeletor business, we've been too busy defending our own territories."

"Hey, uh, Angella? Miss? Queen?" said Bismuth. "If you guys are busy, why don't we go and take care of things?"

"I agree," said Spinnerella. "If Skeletor's entire undead army is marching on Mizar, it's likely he intends this to be his final stand. We should unite the princesses to defend it."

Angella nodded. "Yes, it likely is. I will do what I can from here. The two of you will go to Mizar to assist in protecting it."

"Will do, your highness!" said Bismuth, bowing awkwardly. "You can count on us!"

* * *

Meanwhile, in Mizar, Netossa was prepared to negotiate with the Horde regarding their occupation of her kingdom. Decided upon the previous night, she would meet with the Force Captain in charge to discuss what to do next. The princess was accompanied not only by several of her royal guards, but by Adora, Garnet, and Flutterina. Adora had requested to come along, while Steven had suggested Garnet join them due to her future-vision. Flutterina, meanwhile, snuck along, much to the irritation of the others.

"Look, kid, you can't just come along whenever or wherever you want," Netossa had told her. "It could be dangerous. We don't know what the Horde's planning."

"Isn't it obvious?" said Flutterina. "They're looking for the same relic that we are! I know about all the Surgeon's secret passages and hideouts and stuff, so I can let you know if they're getting close." Eventually, reluctantly, Flutterina was allowed to join them.

As they approached the designated meeting spot, several Horde soldiers stood waiting for them. Despite the face-obscuring visors they wore, their scowls could be felt. Netossa stepped forwards. "Alright, I'm here. Now where's this Force Captain who wanted to see me?"

The soldiers parted, revealing the large frame of Scorpia. "Hey, glad you could make it!" she said cheerfully. Catra was there as well, glaring at Adora.

"What? _You_?" said Netossa. "Aren't you that weird one who works with that purple-haired princess? The one that wanted a truce?"

"Yeah, Entrapta," Scorpia said. "She's not here right now, unfortunately. Hordak wanted her to hang back at the Fright Zone. But, you'll be happy to know that I'm ready to work with you. Oh, and Catra's here, too."

"Hey, Adora," said Catra, though she looked less than amused. Adora nodded at her.

"What's the Horde even doing here anyway?" asked Netossa.

"Oh, simple," said Scorpia. "We're looking for that First Ones doodad, same as you."

"So Hordak can use it against us?" said Netossa. "If we weren't dealing with Skeletor right now, I'd have you all thrown out of-"

"Woah now, easy, easy!" said Scorpia. "Skeletor's the whole reason we're here! We have a mutual enemy here!"

"She's right," said Adora. "Skeletor's the bigger threat here. We'll both have to work together if we want to beat him."

"And I know just where to find it!" said Flutterina.

"You do?" said Scorpia. "We've been looking for it all day! Why didn't you say something?"

"Uh, because I'm with these guys," said Flutterina. "But if we're working together, I can show you all the way. What do you think, She-Ra?"

"I say we go for it," said Adora. "And you're sure you can get us there without us being caught?"

"Of course," said Flutterina. "I've worked for the Surgeon for years now. I know just how to sneak in and out of his little hidey-holes. We'll be in and out before he even knows we're there!"

"Sounds great!" said Scorpia. "So, who is this 'Surgeon' guy, anyway?"

"The most notorious crime boss Mizar's ever seen," Netossa explained. "He runs the entire criminal underground, even though nobody's ever seen his face."

"She probably has," said Garnet, gesturing to Flutterina. "She worked for him, after all.

"Actually," said Flutterina, "he's really secretive about stuff like that. He likes to keep hidden in the shadows. I've never seen his real face before, but I do know him fairly well. As for this artifact of his, I think I've got a pretty good idea of where he's hidden it."

"Great!" said Scorpia. "Lead the way!"

Flutterina led the group to an abandoned storehouse out in the slums. After checking to make sure nobody was around, they entered. Flutterina then pulled a few wooden floorboards out of the way, revealing a hole leading to an underground tunnel. "Tunnels like these are how the Surgeon conducts his business," she explained. "If we're careful, we should be able to get in and out without anyone noticing."

"Hang on, wouldn't it be easier to go in guns blazing?" asked Netossa. "Now that we know where he's hiding, I can send down my soldiers to flush out him and his cronies."

"No!" said Flutterina, almost a little too quickly. "Er, if you do that, you'll be left unguarded for when Skeletor shows up!"

"Unfortunately, she's right," said Garnet. "It is extremely likely that Skeletor means to attack Mizar soon. The city needs all the protection it can get. Besides, if only the three of us go, there's less of a chance we'll be spotted."

"_Four_ of us," said Catra, stepping forward. "What, you think I'm letting you go down there alone? If you're going after that artifact, then I'm coming, too."

"You sure, Wildcat?" asked Scorpia.

"Of course I'm sure," Catra said. "You stay here in case anything happens. Make sure those princesses don't try anything funny." She quickly jumped down the hole into the darkness. "Well? You coming, or what?"

"We'll be back with that artifact in no time," Adora said to Netossa. She, Garnet, and Flutterina all descended down after Catra into the tunnels below.

"So…" Scorpia said once they were gone. "What should we do now?"

"I don't know about you," said Netossa, "but I'm going to get ready. Flutters is right: Skeletor's going to show up eventually. And I, for one, am not gonna let him destroy my kingdom. Not without a fight."


	18. Underground

Chapter Eighteen: Underground

* * *

"Could you all hurry it up?" Catra said impatiently. "We'll never be able to find this thing if you can't even make it twenty feet from where we started."

"Give us a break, will ya? It's dark down here?" said Adora. She and Flutterina stumbled around with their arms in front of them, trying not to bump into anything. Garnet seemed to have no such problem, though she still moved slowly.

"Hey, it's not my fault I have better eyesight than you all," Catra said.

The four of them were in the tunnels underneath Mizar. In addition to being near pitch-black down there, it was also fairly quiet. Despite the bustling streets above them, the sound came through muffled. Presumably, the tunnels were soundproofed to prevent talk of the latest criminal endeavors to filter through to the surface.

"Here. This will help," said Garnet. She held up an arm, her gemstone shining a beam of light to illuminate the darkness.

"Ah, that does help!" said Flutterina. She stepped forwards. "I know the way. Follow me!" The others did so.

"So, I thought you said you didn't know where the artifact was," said Catra. "What changed?"

"I don't know for certain, but I have a pretty good idea," said Flutterina. "See, the Surgeon likes to display his trophies for everyone to see. There's this big room filled with stuff he's collected over the years. If it's gonna be anywhere, it'll be in there."

"Right. Better be ready to fight off some goons, just in case," said Adora, sword in hand. "For the honor-actually, I think I'll save that for later. Don't wanna call unneeded attention to us…"

"Good call," said Garnet.

The three of them followed Flutterina down the tunnels. There was an entire network of them, twisting and turning all around beneath the earth. Luckily, the mothkin girl seemed to have the whole layout memorized. Despite the area seemingly being a criminal hiding spot, they didn't run into any ne'er-do-wells.

"I don't trust that brat," Catra said.

"Ah, you don't trust anyone but yourself," said Adora.

"And?" said Catra. "Do you really believe she's trying to help us? I'll be willing to bet she just wants that artifact for herself."

"If that was the case, why would she be leading us to it?" said Adora. "She clearly knows the way, she could just get it alone if she wanted it that bad."

"Unless she's leading us into a trap," Catra growled.

"If she is, I can't see it," said Garnet. "The only timelines where we're trapped are ones that are due to our own mistakes. I imagine Flutterina truly believes there to be an artifact."

The four of them continued on their way. They walked in relative silence, aside from the occasional cry of "Over here!" or "This way!" from Flutterina. Eventually, Adora spoke up.

"Hey...I'm glad you finally came around," she said to Catra.

"What, is this about the truce?" said Catra. "I'm just here to make sure you don't make off with this artifact for yourselves."

"Still, it's good to be working together again for a change. Maybe once this is all over we can...we can stay like this. The two of us, against the Horde."

"Not a chance," said Catra. "This is only temporary. Once Skeletor's out of the picture, everything goes back to how it was before."

Adora was quiet for a moment. "But Catra...don't you sometimes wish we could work together again? Not just for a common goal, I mean, but because we're friends?"

Catra looked directly into Adora's eyes. "No. I really don't."

Garnet had been listening to this conversation, but had remained silent. Just as she was about to speak up, Flutterina called from the distance. "We're here!"

The group entered a larger room. So large, in fact, that it was hard to believe that it had been hidden underground for so long. The room was indeed filled with trophies. Some of them were your standard fare: golden riches such as crowns, jewelry, and other stolen items. There were even a few skulls here and there. Most worrying, however, was the glass cylinders containing...things. What exactly they were was unclear, only that they were monsters that no natural order could have created. Mismatched, deformed hybrids of animals from all across the universe, horrid jumbles of body parts taken from who-knows-where, creatures that were more machine than beast.

"I...I think I know why they call this guy the Surgeon…" said Adora, clearly disturbed."

"Oh, don't worry about the monsters," said Flutterina. "That's just a weird hobby of his. They're gross, but they're harmless. What we should be worrying about is that!"

In the center of the room was a large mechanical tower of some sort. It seemed to have been haphazardly cobbled together from various machinery taken from various sources. At the very top was a blue ord, surrounded by metal rings that rotated around it.

"I take it that's the artifact?" said Catra.

"Sure looks like it," said Flutterina. "Should I fly up and grab it, or-"

Just then, the trap was sprung. Unseen projectiles collided with everyone, hitting each of them square in the back. From there, four cuffs extended, latching to their wrists and ankles. An energy spread through the devices that seemed to sap everyone's energy, causing them to fall to the ground.

"Heh! Too easy!" a voice said from behind them. Adora turned her head to see numerous figures walking out of the shadows. All of them were recognizable as Etherian races, though with noticeable differences. Too many arms, or mutations, or cybernetic implants. The one who had spoken in particular was an orange snakekin with a mechanical arm. "I thought you guys were supposed to be great warriors, or somethin'!"

"I take it you're the Surgeon?" said Adora, her voice muffled by the floor.

"Who, me? Naw, I just work for him!" said the snakekin.

"Jerrick. It's been a while," said Flutterina, who apparently recognized him."

"Flutterina. Likewise," said the snakekin, who was apparently named Jerrick. He walked in front of everyone, standing next to the First Ones artifact. "So, what brings all of you here to our humble abode?"

"That artifact," growled Catra. "Hand it over."

"What, this doohickey?" said Jerrick. "Aw, you don't want this old thing!" He slammed his robotic arm against the side of the tower; almost instantly, the orb at the top stopped glowing, and the rings stopped spinning. "It's not even really First Ones. We just built it to _mimic_ First Ones tech!"

"You mean it's not even real?" said Flutterina. "You snake, you tricked us!"

"What, like you didn't know?" said Catra.

"I didn't!" said Flutterina. "They told me it was real!"

"Wait...they _told_ you!?" said Adora.

Flutterina was silent for a moment, before sighing. "Okay, I guess there's no hiding it anymore. Remember when I said I didn't work for the Surgeon anymore? That was only partially true." Jerrick walked over to her, removing the cuffs. Flutterina stood up. "I've worked for him since I was little, and I wanted out. He said I could leave, but only if I did one last thing for him." She pointed at the Sword of Protection. "He wants your sword."

"Well, tell him where he can stick my sword!" Adora said.

"Heh, I like this one!" said another minion. Clearly a human woman, but with four arms. She walked over to Adora, removing the sword from her grasp.

"I was right! You did trick us!" said Catra.

"I know. I'm sorry," said Flutterina, looking off to the side in guilt. "I really did think that was a real First Ones artifact. I...I thought I would help. I'm really sorry about all this."

"Hey, think of it this way: at least you can be free now," said Jerrick, placing a hand over her shoulder. "Come on, let's go see the boss now." The two of them walked out, uncaring of the glares they were receiving.

* * *

Upon getting far enough away from the others, Flutterina dropped the sorrowful act. Not only did her expression turn to one of malice, but her entire body transformed as well. She shifted her appearance, becoming a reptilian being with green skin and pointed ears. Their red eyes shone through the darkness. "Ha! What a bunch of Chumps!"

"D.T., that was some of your finest work yet!" said Jerrick. "You had them eating out of the palm of your hand!"

"I sure did!" said Double Trouble. "Though a lot of that was because of the method acting. Why didn't you tell me that artifact was a fake…" They turned around. "..._Boss_?"

Another figure was present, obscured by the darkness. Only his eyes, just as red as Double Trouble's, shone through the darkness. "Welcome back, Double Trouble," he said. His voice was staticky and metallic, like he was communicating through a speaker. "I see your assignment was successful?"

"Indeed it was," they said. "They bought it hook, line, and sinker. No thanks to you."

The figure laughed. "The reason I deceived you was to make your lies more believable. I couldn't risk that fusion uncovering the deception with her third eye."

"You sneaky dog, you never told me you knew about Gems!" said Double Trouble.

"I know about far more than you will ever be aware of," said the figure. A low growl emanated from the shadows, it's source unknown. "Now, about the sword…"

* * *

"You know, with all the stories about you guys, I expected this would have been harder," said the four-armed woman.

"Yeah? Just let me out of here, and I'll show you how hard I'll make this for you!" said Catra.

"Yeah, nice try," said the woman, examining Adora's sword. "These shackles ain't coming off anytime soon. Trust me, I've been on the receiving end of those things as well, and let me tell you, they are _solid_. You'd have to melt or something to get out!"

That was all Garnet needed to hear. "Adora, get ready," she said.

"Ready for what?" asked Adora. Her question was answered when Garnet glowed, separating into two shapes.

"What the!?" said the woman. Where Garnet had lay were now two smaller Gems. The red one immediately rushed her, while the blue one hurried over to Adora.

"Take this!" yelled Ruby, throwing her fist against her shin. The impact knocked the woman over, causing her to drop the sword. Ruby picked it up, throwing it to her. "Adora, catch!"

Adora's shackles had just been undone by Sapphire. She reached up to catch the sword. "For the honor of Grayskull!" Instantly, she was transformed into She-Ra.

While this had been going on, Catra had used her tail, unbound by the shackles, to undo her own restraints. She shot up to her feet, catching the nearby thugs by surprise as she lunged.

In her new form, Adora made quick work of the henchmen who tried to restrain her. A single swing of her sword was enough to launch each of them across the room. Ruby and Sapphire, despite their small size, were competent fighters as well, utilizing fire and ice to their advantage.

"Alright, that's it!" The four-armed woman charged at Adora, who prepared to do battle. However, Garnet suddenly materialized, knocking the woman across the room with a single punch.

"Oh, that works," said Adora. "Now, what do you say we get out of here?"

"Way ahead of you!" said Catra, who was already running down the tunnels. Adora and Garnet followed.

"This doesn't make sense!" said Garnet. "I should have been able to see this!"

"Don't beat yourself up about it," said Adora. "There's lots of possible futures, you can't be expected to keep track of _all_ of them."

"I'm more concerned about the artifact being a fake!" said Catra. "Now how do we defeat Skeletor?"

"The Lock!" said Garnet. "Peridot brought a First Ones artifact of her own. If only she could get it working…"

Before long, the three of them broke through to the surface. However, it was quite hectic up here as well. Citizens ran around in a panic from some unseen threat.

"What's going on up here?" said Adora.

"I don't know, but I have a pretty good idea," said Garnet. "Come on."

They returned to the palace, where everyone else was waiting for them. "Guys, you're back!" said Steven. "And just in time, too!"

"No good," said Adora with a sigh. "The artifact was a fake. Flutterina was in league with the Surgeon. She led us into a trap."

"What!? Flutters was a mole!?" said Netossa.

"I thought something was up," said Bow. "The First Ones signal disappeared from my tracker pad a few minutes ago. This isn't good."

"Why? What's going on?" asked Catra.

"That is," said Glimmer. Off in the distance, just beyond kingdom, a massive army of the dead, larger than any seen thus far, marched closer. Skeletor himself was visible, leading the charge.

"You're right," said Garnet. "This _isn't_ good." However, it was about to get worse. Something else was present, casting a shadow over the city.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me!" said Adora upon seeing it.

Flying above Skeletor's army was an enormous, undead dragon.

"Welp, we're boned," said Amethyst.


	19. Immovable Object

Chapter Nineteen: Immovable Object

* * *

The citizens of Mizar were gripped by panic. Understandable, seeing the massive amount of zombies currently marching on their capital, a dragon among them. The heroes in particular stared up at this airborne threat, wondering just how they were going to survive this.

Skeletor spoke, magically projecting his voice across the entire city. "People of Mizar! Your reckoning has arrived!" The dragon overhead let loose a fearsome bellow, as if to add emphasis to this claim. "I have come to secure my domination of this planet. And you stand in my way! Make your peace, for soon, all will be silent!" The undead army resumed their march, bearing down on the city.

"What do we do now?" asked Glimmer. "There's no way we can take on all of those things!"

Steven stepped to the front, staring down at the approaching army. "We have to try," he said. "Unless we do something, this whole city's going to be destroyed."

"Steven, I appreciate your heroic optimism," said Bow. "But I'm starting to think it's a bit misplaced. They've got a freaking dragon! What are we supposed to do against a freaking _dragon_!?"

"Steven's right," said Connie. "We may be outmatched, but if we don't at least try, there's no hope for the people."

Netossa looked around. Here was her home, her subjects, being threatened by an invading force. She wouldn't stand for this. "I have an idea," she said. "A way to protect the city. But you'll need to hold them off."

"Look, guys," said Adora. "I know this looks bad, but we can handle it. We have to, otherwise everything is lost. We are the Princess Alliance! And the Crystal Gems! If we could take on the whole might of the Horde and stop them from taking Brightmoon, and fight the, um, Diamonds, then I'm sure we can handle some dead people! And the Horde's even on our side for this one!" She indicated Catra and Scorpia, the latter of which was hiding behind a wagon. "So, who's with me?"

Garnet looked to Amethyst, who nodded. "Let's do this," said the fusion.

"Uh, what about me?" said Peridot. "Should I keep working on this thing, or…?"

"Me and Peridot will stay here," said Lapis. "I'll guard her from them while she gets the Lock working. We'll need it if we want to take Skeletor down for good."

"So, this is our last stand," said Glimmer. "Might as well go all out, then!"

"Let's do it!" said Adora.

* * *

Netossa arrived in the Kinetic Crystal's chamber. The white orb slowly turned, suspended in the air as its light washed over the walls of the large room. She held up her hand to it, feeling the energy flowing through her.

She took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's do this."

* * *

The heroes walked through the gates, past the city limits. The incoming zombies seemed to stretch all the way to the horizon as they marched ever closer. Undead of all different species, sentient or animal, even from beyond Etheria, were closing in on Mizar.

Though each and every one of them was nervous, all of the heroes stood steadfast, ready to do whatever it took to protect the kingdom. It was Steven who spoke up first. "Don't let any of them get into the city," he said, shield in hand.

With a resounding boom, the undead dragon landed in front of the approaching army. Skeletor descended to the ground, coming to rest next to it. "So, the heroes of Etheria and Earth are here, come to die."

"Maybe," whispered Adora, too quiet for anyone to hear. "Maybe!" she shouted to Skeletor. "But you'll have to defeat each and every one of us if you want to take this kingdom!"

"And defeat you I shall," he said. "Remember this day, heroes, for it shall be your last! Burn them to cinders, my pet!"

Skeletor directed the skeletal dragon forwards, as it let loose a jet of deep purple flame from its gullet. Everyone braced for the fire to consume them, except for Garnet and Amethyst, who ran in front of them all, into the inferno.

The heroes were not incinerated then. Everyone looked on in wonder as the fires were blocked by a towering new being. Purple as Amethyst with hair just as wild, and bearing four arms, and a visor not unlike Garnet's. Steven gasped. "Sugilite!"

The dragon ceased its flames. It roared a fearsome roar at this new challenger, who roared back herself. The dragon lunged, colliding with Sugilite. The two giants grappled, the fusion fighting tooth and nail to protect her allies.

"ATTAAAAAAACK!" bellowed Skeletor. The zombies charged, as did the heroes. Swords, claws, and fists flew as the masses of undead were carved through, dropping like flies. Though mighty as one, each individual zombie was fragile, so the heroes took great care not to get surrounded. Though while they fought valiantly, it was not them the zombies were targeting.

"They're going towards the city!" said Connie. As hard as they fought, there was only so much the heroes could do to keep them from storming Mizar. However, they would soon find that they were not the city's only defenders.

It began in the air at the very top of Mizar, above the palace; a sudden surge of energy, enough to gain everyone's attention. It soon became clear just that this was: one of Netossa's nets. Though this was no ordinary net. Starting above the kingdom, it soon extended around the entire mountainside. Soon enough, the net covered all of Mizar, the city gates now the only entryway into the city.

"So _that's_ Netossa's plan!" said Adora. "All right!"

"Everyone, keep the, away from that gate!" said Glimmer. "We've got a place to defend now, so let's defend it!"

The heroes grouped up in front of the gate, forming a bottleneck. Zombies ran directly towards them, only to fall before their ironclad defense. Try as they might, however, some of them got through.

"We've got some runaways!" said Scorpia. You stay here, I'm going after 'em!" She ran off after the zombies.

"Scorpia, wait!" said Catra, running after her.

"Guys, where are you going?" said Glimmer.

"Don't worry, we can handle this," said Bow. "Just keep fighting!"

And so they did, fighting to the best of their ability. Adora and Connie cut through the undead en masse with their blades, like wheat in a field. Pearl and Glimmer both took on the individuals separated from the rest, the former with her spear and lasers, the latter by teleporting in and out before they knew what hit them. Bow and Steven played defense, by shooting the zombies from afar, and blocking them from reaching his friends, respectively.

The dragon tried to lunge at the heroes, but Sugilite pulled it back by its tail. She lifted it up into the air, slamming it back into the ground behind her. "Oh, what, you think you're hot stuff? You ain't nothin'! You hear me!?" The beast's fangs and fire were no match for the giant woman's might. Even as it tried to take to the air, Sugilite was one step ahead of it, summoning her flail to drag it back down to her level.

Inside the city proper, the few zombies that had made it in were making a beeline towards the Lock, Skeletor knowing full well how much of a threat it posed to him. Scorpia knew this as well, as she ran after them. However, though she could be quite fast, her stamina left much to be desired. Fortunately, as the zombies outpaced her, they were quickly dispatched by a troop of Horde soldiers.

"Awaiting orders, Force Captain!" said one of them after the zombies had been dealt with.

"Take...take care of all the...dead guys," Scorpia panted. "Don't let them...get by you."

"Roger that," he said. "Hey! You heard the Force Captain! Protect the city at all costs!"

"That goes for all of you," Scorpia continued. "Spread the word: Horde forces across the city, destroy all zombies!"

"Uh...what's a zombie?" asked another trooper.

"The dead guys! Just kill the dead guys!" Scorpia said. "Or, re-kill them, or whatever!"

Just then, more zombies made their way into the city. Scorpia braced herself, prepared to fight them off. But each of them fell before they could even reach her. Catra had arrived, quickly taking each of them out with a swift slash of her claws. She landed in front of Scorpia. "So, we gonna stand here, or are we gonna show these bug-riddled freaks what happens when you mess with the Horde?"

Scorpia nodded. "Let's do this thing, Wildcat!" Both of them ran off, prepared to do battle with the undead.

"FOR THE HORDE!"

* * *

To say Skeletor was frustrated would be an understatement. Even to say he was furious would be one. The very air around him crackled with magic borne of his rage. To see his armies so effortlessly slaughtered by these pitiful excuses for heroes, his carefully-laid plans turning to dust before his very eyes. "Enough of this! Forget about Mizar, focus your efforts on them! Kill them! Destroy them! Make them suffer!"

The zombies now only cared about eliminating the heroes; the Lock be damned, Skeletor would deal with that later. Though their strategy was nearly unchanged, the group now had to worry about being attacked by those that got through their defenses. However, matters became even worse when Skeletor himself entered the fray.

"For too long, I have toyed with you," she snarled as he grew closer. "I had not considered you a threat worthy of my time. But as you have proven time and time again, you are annoyingly difficult to vanquish. But this time, I will not offer you such courtesies. This is where I show you the full extent of my power. You will die here, alone and screaming! I will salt the earth with the dust from your corpses! None shall ever remember you, except as the fools who dared to cross the almighty Skeletor!"

As soon as the warlock made his presence known, an all-consuming fear gripped the heroes. Though they were nervous fighting his legions, Skeletor himself commanded a terror unlike anything even his undead dragon brought on. As much as even the bravest among them wanted to simply curl up and hide, they all knew they had to keep fighting if they were to have any chance to survive.

Skeletor urged his forces forward. "Keep fighting if you wish, but it will accomplish nothing. You will fade, as all things must. Just as everything dies over time, so must I ensure that it happens, for I am an agent of destruction. I am a force of nature. I. Am. The. End."

"Just keep holding on!" said Steven, holding back the swarm as best he could. "We'll get through this!"

"I-I can't keep fighting!" said Glimmer. "I'm not strong enough! None of us are!"

"Yes you are!" Steven exclaimed. As he said this, his strength seemed to increase, pushing the undead back further. "All of you are! We'll get through this, together! Because we have each other!" For a moment, however brief, the choking sense of dread seemed to lessen. But only for a moment. The fear soon returned, and along with it, the last lights of hope faded. All went dark…

…

...No. No, Steven wouldn't allow it. He wouldn't let this be the end. He wouldn't let his friends die.

From Steven came a surge of pink energy. A massive bubble extended around him, pushing all of the zombies back. His friends were all safe inside, and the bubble blocked the way through Netossa's shield.

Connie looked up. "Steven…"

"We have to stay strong," he said. "Even if this is the end, we have to keep fighting. If we give up...they Skeletor wins. He may defeat us, but if we fight him, really fight him, it'll show people he can be beaten. We know he's not invincible. So let's show him that!"

The heroes steeled themselves, preparing for one last battle. "Everyone...I'm glad I got to know you. All of you," said Adora.

The zombies were breaking through the bubble. "I can't hold it much longer," said Steven. "I'm going to have to let go. Everyone ready?"

Weapons in hand, the heroes prepared for battle. "Born ready!" said Connie.

"Then let's do this!" said Steven. "Three...two…"

But then, something unexpected happened. Just as Steven was prepared to drop his barrier, all the zombies surrounding them were suddenly swept away. An enormous wave of water washed all of them away from the heroes. "Lapis?" said Steven.

It wasn't Lapis, but Mermista. And not just her, either. Enormous bramble-laden vines swept through the undead, and ice forms the size of glaciers crushed Skeletor's armies, as Perfuma and Frosta joined the fray as well.

"Everyone's here!" cried Glimmer. "We might have a chance after all!"

The three new arrivals carved through the armies with newfound zeal. "No...NO!" yelled Skeletor. "This is not how this was supposed to go!" He rose high up into the air. "I WILL CRUSH YOU ALL!"

A fourth princess entered the fray: Spinnerella whipped up mighty tornadoes and cutting gales as she made her way to the heroes. And she wasn't alone. Carving through the undead, her arms shifted into axes, was Bismuth. "Hey-O!" exclaimed the latter. "Somebody order some backup?"

"You all sure showed up at a good time!" said Bow.

"We came as quickly as we could," said Spinnerella. "Is everyone okay? Nobody's hurt?"

"No one yet, thanks to you," said Pearl.

"Well, whaddya say we put the hurt on that ol' bag of bones?" said Bismuth.

"Let's do it!" said Adora. "Come on, it's time to take Skeletor down for good!"


	20. Dead Set

Chapter Twenty: Dead Set

* * *

Skeletor drew from every last wellspring of power within him, darkening the very skies above the kingdom. Purple lightning stuck all around the heroes as more and more undead rose to face them. This time, however, they knew they could win.

The other princesses and Bismuth joined the rest of their friends to face down the approaching horde of zombies. Everyone readied their weapons and powers. "Let's get 'em!" exclaimed Frosta. As the undead armies charged, get them is exactly what they did. With everyone's renewed vigor, not a single zombie made it into the city. The charging corpses were smashed, sliced, or just outright blown up before they could reach the gates, which our heroes guarded with extreme prejudice.

A short distance away from this, Sugilite was still engaged in combat with the zombie dragon. With its master's newfound rage, the beast was fighting harder than ever. With the dragon whipped up into a frenzy like this, even someone like Sugilite was having trouble keeping up. The dragon sank its fangs into her forearm, clawing at her violently as she tried to hold it off. She could do little else, as it was too close for her to punch.

Just then, the monstrous fiend was dragged back by an unseen force. Sugilite used this moment to throw the dragon off of herself, throwing both left arms forward in a double punch to further throw it back. Around its tail, neck and wings were wrapped several vines, holding tightly to its rotting scales. Perfuma struggled to contain the beast, holding it back as best she could.

Sugilite took this moment to strike the finishing blow. She drew back both her right arms as far back as she could, spun them around faster and faster, and shot them forward like a bullet. So great was the impact upon colliding with the dragon that the top half of its skull became separated from the rest of its body. The fallen giant collapsed in a heap as its skull landed many, many feet away,

After making for absolute certain that the dragon was dead again, Sugilite flashed a smile towards Perfuma, giving a thumbs-up. "Nice hustle there, flower girl!"

"No problem!" Perfuma said cheerfully. She then went back to decapitating the undead with razor-sharp vines. Sugilite followed her example, summoning her flail, proceeding to use it to crush dozens of the shambling bodies at once.

Watching this scene play out from overhead, Skeletor snarled. There was no way he could win with all of them guarding the only entrance like this. If he wanted to get into Mizar, he had to change tactics. This shield needed to come down. He redirected his forces, making them spread out to attack the barrier itself. The zombies slammed and clawed against Netossa's net, literally clambering over themselves to take it down.

"What are they doing?" said Glimmer.

"They're trying to break through!" said Pearl. Indeed, portions of the citywide net were beginning to break, creating small openings for the zombies to climb through.

"We have to protect the civilians!" said Perfuma.

"Leave that to me," said Glimmer. "Everyone else, spread out. Stop these freaks from getting into the city!"

With Adora and Bismuth continuing to guard the already-open gate, the others fell back into the city to stop Skeletor's legions from advancing further. They positioned themselves around the broken segments, dispatching the zombies that entered. Even still, many of them still got in. Fortunately, the city already had some defenders in place.

In addition to the palace guards, the Horde soldiers also did their part to take down the encroaching undead. At the helm of this movement was Scorpia, smashing through the invaders with the might of a bulldozer. "Stay focused, everybody! We're almost in the clear, I can feel it!"

Nearby, Catra put a zombie's lights out with a stun baton. "How can you tell?" she said.

"It's a feeling in my gut!" replied Scorpia.

"Figures," said Catra. With one kick, she deprived a zombie of its head. "The only thing I feel in _my_ gut is nausea. These things smell like-Woah!"

The cause of Catra's outburst was a jet of water streaking past her, slamming a trio of zombies into a wall. Lapis stood on the other end, having accessed the city's aqueduct. She turned to her green friend, not far behind her. "How's progress with that Lock?" she asked.

Peridot stuck close to Lapis as she fiddled with the cylinder in her hands. "I'm pretty sure I'm almost done," she said.

"Let me guess, a feeling in your gut?" said Catra.

"Save those jokes for when we win, we've got more headed this way!" said Scorpia. She bashed two of them aside with her claws, skewering a third with her tail before using it as a makeshift flail.

The rest of the zombies were blown asunder by a targeted gale, save one, which was impaled by a thrown spear. Spinnerella and Pearl made their way over, carving through the undead legions.

"I know where the risen are trying to get to," said Spinnerella. "If they get to Netossa, if even one of them makes her lose focus for even a moment, the barrier protecting the city will fall. There will be nothing stopping Skeletor from storming it."

"He's kinda already doing that, but whatever you say," said Lapis, washing away more zombies.

"You go protect her, I'll stay here and protect Peridot," said Pearl. Spinnerella nodded, ascending the mountainside to reunite with her beloved.

"For the record," said Peridot, hiding behind Lapis. "I only need protection because my hands are full. If the Lock wasn't an issue, I'd be on the front lines with the rest of you!"

"Whatever you say, Peridot," said Pearl. She swung her spear, dispatching more incoming zombies. "About that Lock...are you sure you know how to work it when it's ready?"

"How hard can it be?" she replied. "It's not that unlike old Gem tech, I'm sure I'll manage."

"You'd better manage!" said Catra. "That First Ones trinket is the only thing we've got to beat Skeletor!"

"Stop worrying and keep killing!" said Pearl. She and Catra went back-to-back, blasting zombies with their spear and baton. "I'll bet neither of us thought we'd be fighting for the same side."

"Don't get used to it," said Catra.

Meanwhile, up in the Kinetic Crystal chamber, Netossa struggled to keep her net steady. She had never made a net this big, nor kept one active for this long. She was becoming fatigued from the effort. Making matters worse, she could sense that Skeletor was starting to punch holes in it. If anything broke her concentration, the entire barrier would come crashing down.

Noises began to get closer-stomping footsteps, grumbling vocalizations. His armies were getting closer. One of them appeared in the doorway, running towards the princess.

"You gotta be kidding me!" she shouted. Straining to keep the city protected, Netossa tried an unorthodox tactic to defend herself. She extended three lines towards the zombie, which sliced cleanly through it. The zombie was felled, but more of them approached. She steeled herself, preparing for the worst.

Before she could launch another attack, the undead in the doorway were blown away, literally. Spinnerella charged into the room to take down any stragglers. She slammed one against the wall, while slicing another clean in half with a razor-sharp gust. Spinnerella hurried over to Netossa once the area was clear, placing a hand on her cheek. "Are you alright? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

Netossa smiled. The barrier held. "I'm fine, thanks to you. Glad you showed up when you did!"

"Better late than never!" Spinnerella said. "Now, you focus on keeping your nets up, I'll keep the room dead-free!" She created a small vortex in her hands, prepared to hurl it at whatever rotting corpse walked in next.

* * *

Outside, the zombie horde was thinning. The holes they had made in the net were closing, cutting off their entrances, and their limbs as they climbed through. With the dream-team of Adora and Bismuth guarding the gate, no more zombies were getting through any time soon.

"And now comes the waiting game," said Pearl. "We stay here until the Lock is ready, which could take-"

"Hey, I think I got it working!" said Peridot. The inner mechanisms of the artifact had begun to move, and a steady, low hum and dim glow emanated from inside.

"Oh, well, that works too," Pearl said. "So, what now?"

"According to Demantoid, the Lock was used to contain powerful beings," said Peridot. "So we've just got to get Skeletor close enough, and seal him inside!"

"Easier said than done," said Lapis. "Come on, let's round everyone up."

"We'll stay here and protect the people," said Scorpia. "Good luck!"

The three Gems hurried down to the gate, bringing everyone else together with them. As if he was aware the Lock was ready, Skeletor sent all of his forces to intercept Peridot. "Steven! Catch!" she yelled, tossing the Lock to him.

"Oh, okay!" said Steven, surprised. He caught the artifact, continuing to run away from the legions of undead. Upon being cornered, he chucked it to Connie. "Here! Catch it!"

Connie did so, proceeding to duck and weave through the oncoming undead. She then threw it to Glimmer, who teleported it to Bow, who fired it skyward to Lapis, who flew above the zombies' reach.

However, Skeletor was airborne as well. He fired a beam at Lapis, who dropped the Lock in surprise, just narrowly dodging the beam. A group of Zombies clustered beneath it to catch it. All of them were bashed aside by Bismuth's hammer arm, who caught the Lock in her other hand. She tossed it back to Peridot...whose head it sailed clean over. Fortunately, Pearl caught it and handed it to Peridot while smirking at Bismuth, who grinned sheepishly.

"Well? What's the hold-up?" asked Mermista.

Peridot held the Lock up towards Skeletor, but nothing happened, no matter how many buttons she pushed. "It's not working! Maybe he has to be closer," she said.

"Then let's get him down here!" said Glimmer. "Mermista? Lapis? You're up!"

The two hydromancers nodded. Both of them sent a stream of water up at Skeletor, who easily dodged. However, they sent the streams back around, the water wrapping around him like chains. They pulled with all their might, slowly but surely dragging him down to the ground. "What? No, impossible!"

"Hey, Big Blue! Throw me!" said Frosta, running towards Bismuth.

"You got it, Ice Queen!" said Bismuth. She gave Frosta a boost, hurling her upwards at Skeletor.

"This is for earlier, bonehead!" she shouted, forming a massive ice hammer around her hands. She swung it with all her might, slamming it into the sorcerer. Skeletor lost his composure upon the hit, allowing Lapis and Mermista to drag him down quicker. Frosta created an ice slide on her way down, sliding harmlessly to a stop.

Snarling with rage like a trapped animal, Skeletor fired another beam at Peridot. Steven leapt in front of it, blocking it with his shield. He was pushed back by the impact, but Connie ran to his side, helping him hold off the attack. As more zombies ran towards them, Adora made her move. She swung the Sword of Protection, creating a wave of energy that blasted all of them back.

Now on the ground, Perfuma aided in restraining Skeletor by wrapping numerous vines around him. Bow helped as well, entrapping him in a net arrow. Sugilite ran forward, slamming her fist down onto him. He blocked her punch with his free hand, but he was still being pushed downward. However, the furious necromancer was not prepared to give up just yet. He raised his staff once more preparing to fire another blast.

"This is for my mother!" yelled Glimmer. She teleported in front of Skeletor, smacking him with her own staff. The impact caused him to drop his, weakening him significantly. "Now! Do it now!"

Peridot ran forward, holding the Lock out in front of her. "Eat this!" she shouted.

Despite her efforts, however, nothing happened.

"What's going on with that thing?" asked Lapis. "I thought you said you knew how to use it!"

"It's not my fault!" said Peridot. "For all intents and purposes, it _should_ be working! He should have been trapped in this thing already! Unless…"

With everybody occupied by the Lock's failure to seal Skeletor away, nobody was paying any attention to the undead warlock. If they had been, they would have seen him reaching for his dropped staff. Then, they would have been able to prevent him from breaking free from his shackles. But as they were not, this is exactly what he did.

A powerful blast of energy radiated from Skeletor, knocking everyone back. He rose into the air once more. "How unfortunate!" he said. "And here I thought you truly had what it takes to defeat me! But I was mistaken." He held out his hand. The Lock was wrenched out of Peridot's hands and into his. "Such pitiful trinkets cannot hold me. You cannot contain death itself." His hand crackled with energy as he crushed the Lock to pieces.

"No!" yelled Peridot.

"Yes!" said Skeletor. "Now you will witness my true purpose! My true intentions!" Sugilite ran towards him, only for Skeletor to fire a beam from his staff. Sugilite was split back into Garnet and Amethyst, who fell to the ground. Skeletor raised his staff up once more, bringing it down to the earth with a massive shockwave.

The sorcerer looked around at his handiwork. All of his adversaries lie broken and defeated. He couldn't help but feel a rush of satisfaction at this. But he couldn't celebrate just yet-there was work to be done. He entered Mizar. "Rise, my warriors!"

Beneath the city, just outside of Skeletor's previous reach, were the catacombs. Now inside the city limits, Skeletor was able to replenish his armies, which swarmed all across the kingdom and beyond.

Try as she might, Spinnerella was overwhelmed. She couldn't hold back the assault. She and Netossa were overrun. The barrier around Mizar disappeared into nothing.

Skeletor levitated to the very top of the palace. From out of his staff came several necro-spheres, which spread out over the horizon, all across Etheria. Skeletor stood, triumphant, in his victory. "The extinction of all life...begins now."


	21. Dead Set, Match

Chapter Twenty-One: Dead Set, Match

* * *

Massive storm clouds swirled around Mizar as the dead overtook the kingdom. Skeletor's legions rose all across Etheria. Plumeria, Salineas, Brightmoon-all of these and more had come under siege from the undead. The necro-spheres hung in the sky, sinister as Skeletor himself, as they brought in new zombies from beyond the sky as well as beneath the earth.

Steven struggled to his feet. Underneath the darkened skies, the city of Mizar was falling to Skeletor's advance. The warlock himself was visible standing atop the palace, lording over the city that would soon be his.

"Guys?" Steven called out. "Everyone? Anyone?" The other members of the heroes' alliance lay strewn about, alive, but not in good shape. Connie struggled to get up, bracing herself with her sword. Steven ran over to her. "Connie!"

"Steven!" she called back, limping closer. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he said. "I think a better question would be if _you're_ alright."

"I've felt better, but I'm not ready to give up just yet," she said. "Come on, we can't let Skeletor...let him…" Connie fell to the ground.

Steven caught her. "Connie, what's wrong?" he cried, worried.

"I...I don't know," she said. "I feel...I can't really describe it. It's like I'm...tired. Too tired."

"She's been cursed," said Pearl. The Gem struggled to her feet as well. "I think we all have." Everyone else slowly started to get up as well, weakened by this curse.

"What does that mean for you?" asked Steven.

"It means Skeletor sapped our strength with that last attack," she explained. "He's draining our power. We're going to get weaker and weaker, until...there's nothing left for him to drain.

Hurriedly, Steven licked his palm, placing the healing substance against Connie's shoulder. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to happen. "No, no, why isn't this working?" he said.

"Nngh...what happened?" said Adora, rubbing her head. She looked around, seeing the sorry state of everyone around her. "Oh no. What did Skeletor do?"

"Apparently, we've all been cursed," said Steven. "Only...you and me don't really seem to be affected. I wonder why?"

"No time for that now," said Bismuth. "We gotta beat this guy before he can do any more damage."

"If we can destroy Skeletor, it might just stop the curse," said Glimmer. "Magic like this usually goes away if there's nobody to cast the spell anymore."

"But without the Lock, what are we supposed to do?" asked Adora. "We don't have any First Ones artifacts strong enough to stand against him!"

Steven's gaze was drawn to the Sword of Protection. "Yes we do," he said. "Adora...we have to dance."

Adora stared at him for a moment, confused. "Uh, come again?"

"No, listen," said Steven. "Remember back with Angella? We were able to damage his staff when we worked together. We have what it takes to hurt him. We can destroy Skeletor, but only if we do it together." He held out his hand. "You and me, Adora. We have to fuse."

"Huh?" said Adora. "I thought only Gems could fuse."

"Technically," said Garnet. "But because Steven is partly human, he is able to fuse with organics. This is how Stevonnie is able to be."

"I don't know about this," said Adora. "It's not that I'm opposed to fusing, it's just that...what if we can't? What do we do then?"

"Adora, listen to me," said Garnet, walking over to her. "I've only known you for a short time, but in that time I've come to learn that you and Steven are so much alike. The two of you are kind and gentle, yet strong and stalwart. You would both do anything for your friends. You two are loving, compassionate, and far wiser than you know. So I know that, if you decide to fuse, you'll be able to do it just fine."

She thought about it for a moment. "Okay," she said. "Show me how." Adora took Steven's hand.

"Follow my lead," he said. He began to move, with Adora copying his movements.

"You need to be in sync to fuse," Garnet explained. "Once you're both on the same wavelength, your bodies and minds will become one. The stronger the bond, the more stable the union." Steven and Adora continued their dancing. It was a slow and awkward gait, but a sense of unity was nonetheless visible amongst the two of them. "Good, wonderful. Once you feel the time is right, take each other's hands."

The dance continued. Soon enough, both Steven and Adora could practically sense the other's pulse. They were as one, and it was time to become one. With one last twirl, the two grasped hands. A blinding light filled the air as they combined.

There she stood. She was about a head taller than She-Ra, and wore her gold armor, but with a star on the chest. Not as muscular as She-Ra, and not as chubby as Steven, but a mix of the two. Her midriff was exposed, revealing Steven's gemstone on her stomach. Long black hair with streaks of gold were tied in a giant braid that ran down to her waist. She spoke, her voice gentle yet deep. "Did...did it work?"

Garnet looked on in proud awe. "Better than I could have ever foreseen," she said.

The new fusion looked down at herself. She laughed, first in disbelief, then in happiness. "I can't believe this!" she said. "I-I mean, we fused! Or is it, _they_ fused?"

"How do you feel?" asked Bow.

"I feel…" The fusion felt the power of both the Sword of Protection and Rose Quartz flowing through her. "I feel amazing!" she said, leaping into the air. "I feel like I could take on Skeletor and his entire army all by myself!"

"Even still, you won't have to," said Perfuma. "We may be cursed, but that doesn't mean we're ready to give up yet!"

"Are you sure?" she said. "You can stay here and rest if you want, I understand!"

"Fat chance!" said Amethyst, drawing her whip. "We're right behind you...um, do you have a name yet?"

The fusion pondered this. "Hmm, let's see...I think if it was Steven and Adora who fused, I'd be Stevora. But since Adora was in her She-Ra form, call me...She-ven!"

Garnet couldn't help but smile at this goofy moniker. "She-ven it is!" she announced.

She-ven walked over to Adora's sword, lifting it up in her right hand, while summoning Steven's shield onto her left. She gazed up at the top of the city where Skeletor resided. "So, who's ready to kick some zombie tailbone?"

To resounding cheers, She-ven led the charge up to the palace. The zombies in the city swarmed them, but She-ven cut through them in droves. The sheer power she wielded was almost overwhelming. Any lesser beings would have gotten a power high long ago, but so strong were Steven and Adora's devotion to protecting their friends, and innocent lives, that the only thing on She-ven's mind was saving the world. Everyone else did their best-even under their curse, the heroes fought with the strength of ten zombies-no, a hundred, each.

"Everyone! Protect the people!" said She-ven. "I'll handle Skeletor!" She ran ahead to where he stood.

At the palace, Netossa held Skeletor back as best she could. With a net held out in front of her, she blocked his attacks from reaching herself and Spinnerella. But there was only so much she could do, and even right below her Runestone, her powers were waning. His attack would soon prove too much for her to defend against.

"If there's anything I cannot stand, it's heroes who refuse to accept defeat," grumbled Skeletor, almost casually. "This would be so much easier for the both of us if you would just lie down and die."

"Not...gonna...happen!" said Netossa.

"So be it," Skeletor said. "All you're accomplishing is delaying the inevitable. You will be taken by the veil soon enough, just as all things must."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" shouted a voice from behind him. So brazen was this refusal of surrender that Skeletor had no choice but to turn around.

"And what makes you believe you have a say?" he said.

"You seem to think you're the avatar of death itself," said She-ven, "but I know better. I know your type: you're just another evil, power-hungry, dime-a-dozen evil sorcerer."

"Do not pretend to know me, child!" Skeletor said, firing a beam from his staff. She-ven blocked it with Steven's shield, before firing a beam of her own from Adora's sword. Skeletor actually seemed to be damaged by this, or at least knocked back. He growled in frustration. "This insolence will not go unpunished!"

A swarm of zombies stormed in from every direction. She-ven looked around at all of them as they ran closer. Just before they reached her, she created a pink bubble around herself, preventing them from getting to her. As they futilely clawed and banged on it, she jumped into the air, the bubble vanishing just as she did so. She pointed her sword downwards as she fell, slamming it into the ground and dispatching all of the undead at once. "Got any more?" she said, looking up at Skeletor.

"I have more than you can handle!" he said. Indeed, more and more zombies rushed in from all over.

She-ven turned to Netossa and Spinnerella. "You two go protect the citizens, I'll handle this joker!" She began cutting through the zombies as the princesses headed down the mountain. Her sword took on the forms of a spear, a whip, a hammer, and many more as she thinned out their numbers. She threw her shield like a discus, which ricocheted all throughout the undead before returning to her arm.

Once it became apparent that his zombies were not effective against this fusion, Skeletor entered the fray himself. "Hear me, abomination!" he bellowed. "Your efforts are futile! I will strip this planet clean of all life, and then do the same with other planets, as many times as it takes, until all is silent!" He sent forth a barrage of magical projectiles.

She-ven braced herself as her shield doubled in size, blocking the attack. "Okay, first of all, 'abomination?' Do I need to remind you that you're literally a walking corpse reanimated by dark magic? You can't get more unnatural than that!"

"My crusade is ordained by the natural order," Skeletor said. "I am extinction in human form. You, however, resist this natural occurrence. You have no place in this order, and so must be purged."

"Such a big ego for such a small man!" said She-ven, lunging with her sword. The blade collided with Skeletor several times, and though he recoiled from the blows, it refused to leave any visible marks. It was as though his body truly was indestructible. "Tell me," she continued, "did your parents not love you or something? Like, what's your story?"

She-ven noticed something as she got closer to Skeletor. He held his staff in such a way that covered up a small chip in the side of it, out of which flowed purple light. She didn't have time to ruminate on this, however, as he prepared his next attack.

"My only story is the legends that have been and will be told!" yelled Skeletor. He lifted up into the air once again, sending down a massive laser at She-ven. "Now, face oblivion!"

She-ven held up her shield again, but the beam pushed her back. She dug her heels into the dirt, but Skeletor proved too strong. Her defenses fell, and the dark energy washed over her, sapping her strength as she yelled. She fell to one knee once it ended, holding herself up with her sword.

Skeletor laughed-a booming, hollow sound. "Such bravado for such a small girl!" he said mockingly. "You truly thought yourself so much stronger than all the others I have faced, did you? And yet, here you are, about to die like all the others!"

Weakly, She-ven stood up. "Don't be so sure!" she said. "Neither Steven or Adora give up so easily, so there's no way _I_ will!" She tried to hold her weapons aloft, but was struck down once more by another beam from Skeletor.

"As irritating as the determined heroes are, I must say, there is a certain satisfaction in crushing them," said Skeletor. "My brother was the same way. He absolutely refused to surrender the crown to me, insisting that his son was the rightful ruler. He was so sure he could win-but I sent him to oblivion, just like all the others. And you will follow."

Skeletor raised his staff above his head. Rather than another beam, the energy seemed to go elsewhere this time. She-ven soon found out where, much to her horror-the dead dragon that Sugilite had seemingly slain had risen once again, dark fire pouring from its wounded body. It landed just behind Skeletor, shaking the ground when it did so.

"You are not even worthy of me killing you myself, filth," he said. "Instead, you will face death by hellfire." He pointed his staff at She-ven, and the dragon prepared to let loose a jet of flame. "I will enjoy it immensely."

Mere moments before the dragon could immolate the fusion, a spark of light was suddenly flung from behind her, directly down the dragon's gullet. The resulting explosion destroyed much of the beast's already-decayed torso. This time, She-ven was prepared, bringing up her shield to block the purple flames. She looked behind her at the source of her salvation: a giant, four-armed woman stood among the other heroes, bow in hand-Opal.

"Impossible!" yelled Skeletor. "I've cursed you! How are you still able to fight!?"

"See, that's the thing about my friends, Keldor," said She-ven. "No matter what happens, no matter the hardships we go through, they'll always have my back. And I'll always have theirs. Both of us will. And no amount of dark magic can ever change that. It may sound cliche, but while you can curse our bodies, our spirits will always be there for each other!"

"RRRAAAGH!" bellowed Skeletor. "I'll tear your spirits from your lifeless husks!" He rose into midair, preparing to fire another beam. The dragon, or what was left of it, rushed at She-ven. She swung her sword, sending out a pink wave that cleaved through it, putting the monster down for good.

She-ven held her sword aloft. "I think I understand why you hate determined heroes so much." Back among the rest of the group, Glimmer began to glow pink, and red light shined from Garnet's gems. "You say it's because they annoy you, but that's not the real reason." Bow and Amethyst began to glow as well. "You know what I think?" Pearl and Perfuma started glowing. "It's because you're afraid of them." Bismuth and Mermista started glowing. "Because you feel threatened by them." Frosta, Netossa and Spinnerella, Peridot and Lapis. "Because you know they're the only ones who can beat you."

"GGRRRRAAAAAAGGGGHHH!" Skeletor screamed, firing a beam containing all of his power that remained. He didn't care what happened next; he just wanted to vaporize each and every one of these insolent whelps. Both Steven's gemstone and Adora's sword glowed as well-from out of the latter came a beam of her own. A massive rainbow laser shot forth from She-ven's blade, colliding with Skeletor's dark purple one. The air around them swirled and crackled as the two warriors fought for dominance. In the end, She-ven, the princesses, and the Gems won out. The rainbow beam cut through Skeletor's striking him and sending out a truly massive shockwave.

The stormy skies above Mizar were cleared instantly by this blast. The people below were unharmed, but all of Skeletor's legions were vaporized by the sheer power of it. The energy spread out for miles around, clearing out any of the death and decay Skeletor had brought with him. At long last, all was quiet.

Once the blast cleared away, Skeletor lay on his knees on the ground. He feebly gripped his staff, which sputtered feebly with the last remaining dregs of his magic. He looked up at She-ven. "You...actually beat me…" he said.

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess I did," she said. "Impressed?"

"Unfortunately, I am," he said. "However...I can't let this stand." Skeletor jumped to his feet and sprinted towards She-ven for one last ditch attack.

She-ven threw herself into the air over him, as he prepared to swing his staff like a club. When she swung her sword, Skeletor held it in front of him in a reflexive maneuver. The Sword of Protection instantly cleaved his staff in two, as She-ven landed on the other side of him.

Skeletor looked down at his broken staff, energy crackling out of where it had been sliced. He said nothing, seemingly resigned to his fate. His arms went limp, dropping both halves to the ground. He fell to his knees.

He let out one final chuckle. "Against all odds…" he said. His body was beginning to dissolve. "I may have been killed, but remember this, child: death is but a doorway. I exist just beyond that barrier. I am death. Never forget this." With a final exhale, his body fell to the ground. All that remained was a skeleton in his robe.

"No," said She-ven. "What you are is _dead, _not_ death_.

All across Etheria, and beyond, Skeletor's armies fell. Like a switch had been flipped, all of his countless undead soldiers fell to the dirt just as their master had, dead once more. The many necro-spheres faded into nothing, ending his reign for good. "Well, I'll be damned," said Hessonite, impressed. "That little green goofball actually pulled it off!"

Back at Mizar, She-ven walked over to her friends. "Guys, we...we did it!" she exclaimed. "Can you believe it?" However, they weren't nearly as ecstatic as she had imagined. "Guys? What's wrong?"

Connie showed her her arm: a purple corruption had spread across her flesh. "We're still cursed," she said.

"But...but we beat Skeletor!" exclaimed She-ven. "I thought you said that would take the curse away!"

"I guess not," said Glimmer. "Sometimes, if a sorcerer is powerful enough, a spell of theirs can last even after they're dead. But don't worry, I'm sure we can ask Aunt Casta for help. She'll think of something."

She-ven thought for a moment. "Hang on, I want to try something." She licked her palm, gripping the handle of her sword. Letting the compassion she felt for everyone around her flow through her, the sword started glowing. She held it into the air, as Steven's and She-Ra's healing powers swirled around them as one. Almost instantly, the purple corruption began to fade away.

Frosta looked down at herself. "Hey, no gross purple stuff!" she exclaimed. "It worked! She-ven, you did it!"

But She-ven had already defused. Steven and Adora braced themselves against each other, completely drained from the taxing battle. Everybody came over, crowding around the two heroes.

"Steven!" Connie said, throwing her arms around him. "That was amazing! You two were so good out there!"

Steven blushed. "Yeah, I guess so." He turned to Adora. "You were really good out there, too."

"Thanks, Steven," said Adora. "I couldn't have done it without you, though."

"Same here!" Steven said. "And neither of us could have done without all of you guys!"

"Aww, c'mere everyone! Group hug!" said Bismuth, scooping everyone up in a massive embrace.

Meanwhile, Catra stood some distance away, unseen by the group. Now that Skeletor was dead, their alliance no longer stood. And she had the perfect opportunity to capture the princess alliance and deliver them to Hordak. Her eyes locked on Adora, she lifted her stun baton slowly upward…

"Wildcat, we won!" shouted Scorpia. She scooped Catra up in a giant hug, seemingly unaware of her plans, causing her to drop the baton.

"Scorpia!" yelled Catra, annoyed. She struggled for a moment, before giving in. "Yeah, I guess we did win," she said. "I, ah, couldn't have done it without you. Scorpia beamed upon hearing this.

Both groups held their embrace for some time. Neither of them noticed for some time, but Skeletor's defeat seemed to have brought about some unexpected side effects. For example, a large, colorful rift now hung in the sky above Etheria. Where did it lead? Only time would tell.


	22. The Aftermath Redux

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Aftermath Redux

* * *

The day had finally been saved, thanks to our heroes. It took hours of gruelling work, but it had all paid off. Skeletor was slain, his armies destroyed, and peace returned to Etheria. Even the Horde, normally dead set on conquering the planet, were gracious enough to withdraw from Mizar now that the battle was over. Though, admittedly, much of that was Scorpia's doing.

"Well, no sense hanging around here now that ol' Bonehead's dead," she had explained. "And since _both_ First Ones artifacts are bust, I doubt Hordak would really care about this place. At least for now."

Netossa had thanked her, asking if she would consider joining the Princess Alliance. Scorpia had declined, saying that despite everything, the Horde was her family. After saying their goodbyes, she and Catra returned to the Fright Zone.

"I don't see the point in me going with you," said Catra. "I'm not welcome there anymore, remember?"

"Maybe not," Scorpia said. "But Hordak doesn't have to know. You can hide out in my room!"

Catra groaned. "Scorpia...thanks."

Scorpia smiled. "No problem, Wildcat!"

Not long after, the rest of the heroes had all met together at Brightmoon. Now that this Skeletor debacle had been dealt with, another problem presented itself: how to get the Crystal Gems back home. Lars' damaged ship was in Horde custody, and none of the Princess Alliance had access to portal technology.

However, another hot topic of conversation was the strange rift that had appeared in the sky following Skeletor's demise. Whatever it was, nobody could be sure. Bow stood on a balcony beside Steven, getting energy readings from the rift to try and understand it better.

"Well, whatever it is, it's in the planet's upper atmosphere," said Bow. "We won't be getting up there anytime soon."

"So, any idea where it leads?" said Steven.

"My guess would be back to the main universe, but there's no way to be certain," explained Bow. "However, it's giving off the same energy signature as Skeletor's staff. So wherever it leads to, it probably appeared when you and Adora broke it."

The door to the balcony opened, and the pair was joined by Pearl. "Hello? Any luck?"

"A little, but nothing much," said Bow. "No clue where it leads."

"Is...is Angella doing okay?" asked Steven. "I haven't seen her since her battle with Skeletor."

"Oh, she's doing just fine!" Pearl reported. "In fact, she's about to hold a meeting, and wants everyone to attend. And that includes the Crystal Gems!"

"Really?" said Steven. "She wants us? Does that mean we're part of the Princess Alliance now?"

"The way I see it, you've always been," said Bow. "Now come on, let's go see what the Horde's up to this time."

The three of them exited the balcony, heading towards the main hall. "Pearl?" asked Steven. "How long do you think we'll be trapped here?"

"It's hard to say, Steven," said Pearl. "Peridot's doing her best to make a teleporter, but it's quite hard to make a transporter to another dimension. Though she did say it would help her if she could work with Entrapta…"

"Even after all this time. I still can't believe Entrapta's working for the Horde," said Bow. "But we'll do our best with what we have."

"Yes, we'll be back on Earth before you know it, Steven!" said Pearl.

"I hope so," Steven said. "But while we're here, we'll help you all fight against the Horde in any way we can. It's the least we can do."

* * *

The Princess Alliance had not been the only ones fighting off Skeletor's forces. While the undead swarmed across the entire planet, who should they have come across but Shadow Weaver, now reduced to wandering the wilderness, searching for some way to restore her powers to their former glory. She had fought countless zombies on her path, but none of them had the power she sought.

Now, travelling through a forest in the dark of night, Shadow Weaver came across a figure hiding in the underbrush. "Who's there?" asked the sorceress. "Reveal yourself!"

"As you wish!" came a gravelly voice. As the leaves and branches were pushed aside, the terrible countenance of Skeletor himself emerged from the darkness. He held his staff in his wizened hand.

"You!" growled Shadow Weaver. Tendrils of darkness swirled around her, preparing to do battle with the necromancer. "How are you alive? I sensed your death!"

'Skeletor' laughed. "Why, Shadow Weaver, surely a dark wizard such as myself would have mastery over my own death! At least, that's what I would have thought…" Though the voice was Skeletor's, the tone was much different, more theatrical somehow. "And as for my being alive...I'm not!"

Skeletor's body began to change. The purple robes shrank into his body, becoming a skintight suit. A green-skinned lizard person stood in his place, still holding the staff.

"Surprise!" they said. "Got you, didn't I? The name's Double Trouble. I'd love to stay and chat, but I've kinda got a deadline. Anyway, my boss wanted me to give this to you." Double Trouble revealed that the staff they were holding was cut in two pieces, and the crystal atop it was balanced on. They tossed this crystal to Shadow Weaver, who caught it. "Consider it a gift. It's no Black Garnet, but it should be sufficient."

Shadow Weaver examined the crystal. She could sense the power that lay within. Could this be what she sought for for so long? "And your master instructed you to give me such power, for free? Surely there must be a catch!"

"You don't miss a beat, do you?" said D.T. "See, I work for this cat calling himself the Surgeon. You've heard of him, no?"

"The name sounds familiar," Shadow Weaver said. "As I recall, he's nothing more than a Mizaran gangster. How did he come to possess such power as this?"

D.T. chuckled. "Oh, lady, he's so much more than that! Bossman has big things planned for Etheria. Maybe even beyond it. Thing is, he needs your help to achieve them. Maybe you'll consider?"

Shadow Weaver gripped the crystal tighter, feeling its power thrumming within. "Perhaps," she said. "I will consider it."

"Good, good!" said Double Trouble. "I'd better get going now. You take your time. If you decide to take us up on it, you know where to find us."

"Actually," said Shadow Weaver, "I don't."

"Oh, yes, that's true," Double Trouble said. "But don't worry-_we_ know how to find _you_." With that, they disappeared into the darkness out of sight.

Shadow Weaver glanced down at the crystal in her hand. The Surgeon...what could he possibly seek to accomplish?

* * *

Some time after Skeletor had been defeated, Netossa had sent her guards down into the underground tunnels to capture the Surgeon and his goons. However, when they stormed the tunnels, they found nothing. His entire operation seemed to have disappeared.

And indeed, it had. All of the Surgeon's henchmen had evacuated the moment Skeletor had begun to attack the kingdom. Currently, they had set up a temporary camp not far from Mizar, but under the princesses' notice. Having delivered their gift to Shadow Weaver, Double Trouble returned to camp to meet up with the Surgeon.

"Honey, I'm home!" they announced. The Surgeon sat at a workbench, his features obscured by shadow. The only light that came was from a light, as he worked on some sort of device.

"Excellent work, Double Trouble," he said. His metallic voice seemed to come not from his own throat, but from the device he was tinkering with. "That power will be put to much better use in Shadow Weaver's hands than those of that old fool Keldor."

"Hmm, you're chipper," said Double Trouble. "At least, by your standards. Considering you lost the sword, I figured you'd be grumpier."

"_I_ did not lose the Sword," he said. "You, and your incompetent ilk, are to blame for that. But...I suppose that is my fault as well, considering. But no matter. We will have that sword before long. For now, however, I suggest we call keep a low profile."

"And why is that, sir?" asked Double Trouble.

"Keldor may be dead, but there are still factors standing in our way," said the Surgeon. "Thanks to those Gems' 'heroics,' Etheria is in danger once more. The She-Ra has one final test ahead of her…"

* * *

This was not the end. There was still much more ahead for our heroes. You see, the Lock that Peridot found was indeed intended to contain beings of great power. The only reason it did not work on Skeletor was because it was already full. And by destroying it, Skeletor had set this being free once again.

The ruined planet of Denebria was no longer silent. Gradually at first, something broke through the planet's surface from below. Machines. Long before the planet had been a Homeworld colony, before it was even where Skeletor had made his base, it had been the location of another entity.

A voice sounded out, cold and deep. "Initiate startup sequence." Long dead robotics factories returned to life, their lights illuminating the dark planet, and the assembly lines whirring to life. "Startup sequence complete. Beginning reactivation of subsystems...cybertrooper factories active. Locating template…"

Small airborne drones were dispatched from the various factories, searching for something they could use to model their machinery after. Soon enough, they found just the thing: the husk of Entrapta's Multi-Bot, long since defeated by the heroes. Dust fell from its frame as the drones attached cables to it, and hoisted it back towards the factories.

"Template found. Resuming production of Horde cybertroopers," said the voice. Once more, the factories began to work. The numerous assembly lines began producing countless white, humanoid robots, each one prepared to destroy anything in its path. Several automated spaceships broke through from underground as well, ready to spread across the galaxy at the command of this mechanical being.

"Production resumed. Occurring at maximum efficiency." In the largest factory, a holographic image appeared at the center. Bright red, it was modeled after a pair of bat wings-the emblem of the Horde. "All subsystems running at 100%. Horde Prime online."


End file.
